Our blogs are written by the staff of the Center for Coalfield Justice, with an occasional guest post. The most recent post appears on top, and others show up below in order of publishing date. You can receive the blogs in your inbox by signing up for our mailing list. Once per month we publish a newsletter, which contains most of the blog posts.
Join us for the Center for Coalfield Justice’s 30th Anniversary Fall Fundraiser!
This may be hard to believe, but CCJ is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year! That is three decades of service to the communities we call home and we are so excited to be able to celebrate it with you all!Take a look back on some of our work over the past 30 years!We will…
August 2024 Newsletter
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT We Won Our Lawsuit Defending Washington County Voters! On August 23, the Washington County Court of Common Pleas ruled in favor of CCJ, NAACP Washington Branch, ACLU Pennsylvania, Public Interest Law Center, and seven disenfranchised voters. The court found that the Board of Elections was wrong to withhold information about voters’ mail…
Coal Mining Updates in Greene and Washington Counties
Four mining companies are currently extracting coal from Washington and Greene Counties using the underground Longwall Mining process. Consol (Bailey, Enlow, Harvey) operates three separate mines that span from Southern Greene County to Southern Washington County; Alliance (Tunnel Ridge) operates a mine in Western Washington County; Iron Senergy (Cumberland) operates a mine in Greene County;…
Cecil Township Proposes 2,500 ft Setback for September 4th Ordinance Hearing: What you need to know
In recent months, Cecil Township has seen a cornucopia of proposed maps, ordinances, and social media posts concerning its oil and gas zoning ordinance. Today is no exception, as the Board of Supervisors (“Board”) has announced on social media that they plan to propose a strict 2,500-foot setback from all “protected structures.” This decision came…
What the ‘We Choose Now’ Community Assembly Was Like
This year, I have been participating in the Building A Movement, or BAM, facilitation training cohort. It is a nine month training program for community leaders working on environmental and economic justice issues to sharpen their skills as a facilitator. This program is led by the folks at Taproot Earth and Project South, who have…
Voting Rights Groups Respond to Decision In Washington County Court Over Disenfranchised Mail Voters
On Friday afternoon, the Washington County Court of Common Pleas ruled that the Pennsylvania Constitution requires the county board of elections to inform mail-in voters of any disqualifying errors on their mail-ballot packets when those errors are detected by the board. The court found that the constitution requires the board to provide that notice before the voter irretrievably loses the right to vote.
Maggie Lynn Mine Update
The Maggie Lynn limestone mine is a surface mine found in Washington County. Neiswonger Construction, currently operating the Maggie Lynn limestone quarry, aims to undermine the surface site. Neiswonger has applied to move operations from simple surface mining to ‘underground’ highwall mining of limestone. Highwall mining is a combination of surface and sub-surface mining. A…
Review of Beaver Land
Reading Suggestion: The Naturalist Series Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip explores the profound impact of beavers on the environment and human history. The book delves into the ecological role of beavers, whose dam-building activities have shaped landscapes and created habitats crucial for other wildlife. Philip illustrates how these industrious…
CNX “Radical Transparency™” News Release Unreliable and Biased, Undermines Objective Scientific Inquiry
Washington, PA – Yesterday, CNX Resources released a statement with the ostentatious claim that there are no public health risks that result from their fracking operations — a claim based on just nine months of air quality data selected from two of their fourteen testing locations. This flies in the face of the fact that there are active complaints against them by residents of one of these very well sites at this time. Their release is also a weak argument against one of the many peer-reviewed studies done by qualified researchers in respectable universities that strongly suggest a range of health and environmental harms that occur due to fracking.
July 2024 Newsletter
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT CCJ Sues Washington County for Disenfranchising Voters — Join Us for a Rally to Protect Voter Rights on August 5th! CCJ and the NAACP Washington Branch, represented by ACLU of PA and Public Interest Law Center, have filed a lawsuit against the Washington County Board of Elections. The County failed to…