Verizon ignores conservationist's request to withdraw sponsorship of coal mining rally

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—According to a press release from Center of Biological Diversity, a coalition of more than 40 conservation and faith organizations representing millions of Americans sent a letter to Verizon Wireless on Friday asking the company to withdraw its sponsorship of Massey Energy’s Friends of America Rally. The groups, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, are extremely disappointed that Verizon Wireless chose to ally itself with right-wing extremists in an anti-union event organized to oppose climate change legislation and to celebrate mountaintop removal coal mining.

“Despite the rally’s name, it is not friendly to America to cling to an industry that keeps Appalachia in a stranglehold of economic and environmental impoverishment by permanently polluting water supplies, blocking green-energy development and economic diversification, and contributing to global climate change. Coal corporations are making millions of dollars off destroying the mountains, and only pollution and poverty are trickling down to residents,” said Tierra Curry, a native of eastern Kentucky and biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Verizon Wireless, a company that pats itself on the back for being environmentally responsible, did not respond to the groups’ letter. In addition to the Center for Biological Diversity, groups on the letter included Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace USA, Friends of the Earth, Appalachian Voices, Christians Caring for Creation, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, and many others.

Coal is one of the largest sources of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Mountain top coal removal mining has destroyed more than 1,200 miles of streams and more than 1 million acres of forest in Appalachia, while permanently contaminating drinking water supplies, endangering residents with dust pollution, flying rock, mudslides, and jeopardizing wildlife.

“Americans want clean drinking water and a transition to a green economy that the planet can sustain and that provides a good quality of life for our children and grandchildren. Verizon Wireless, unfortunately, has aligned itself with the extremists who advocate for the catastrophic effects of mining and burning coal,” added Curry.

By sponsoring this event and ignoring requests to withdraw, Verizon Wireless appears to also endorse the political message behind it.
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Source: Press release from Center for Biological Diversity. No copyright restrictions.