Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Battle while we build: Community power in the midst of water crisis
Session Abstract or Summary
Chemical spills, coal slurry, crumbling infrastructure; these are a few of the things precipitating acute and chronic water crisis in Central Appalachia. Water insecurity is a global problem, exacerbated by climate change, the fossil fuel industry, and the commercialization of water sources. Central Appalachia faces similar and particular challenges to clean water access. As the coal industry declines, coal companies abandon water systems they often helped build and maintain. At the same time, they leave behind buried and polluted streams, sunk wells, and the toxic byproducts from mining and burning coal.
Panelists will discuss their experience living and organizing during water crisis in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia and western North Carolina. From organizing water deliveries during the Elk River 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia to participating in an investigation of the Martin County Water District, panelists will discuss strategies to build community power while responding to community need. The panel will explore the relationship and tensions between decentralized disaster relief and advocating for federal aid; natural and unnatural disasters; slow violence and spectacular events; and building power and resisting harm.
Presentation #1 Title
Battle while we build: Community power in the midst of water crisis
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Chemical spills, coal slurry, crumbling infrastructure; these are a few of the things precipitating acute and chronic water crisis in Central Appalachia. Water insecurity is a global problem, exacerbated by climate change, the fossil fuel industry, and the commercialization of water sources. Central Appalachia faces similar and particular challenges to clean water access. As the coal industry declines, coal companies abandon water systems they often helped build and maintain. At the same time, they leave behind buried and polluted streams, sunk wells, and the toxic byproducts from mining and burning coal.
Panelists will discuss their experience living and organizing during water crisis in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia and western North Carolina. From organizing water deliveries during the Elk River 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia to participating in an investigation of the Martin County Water District, panelists will discuss strategies to build community power while responding to community need. The panel will explore the relationship and tensions between decentralized disaster relief and advocating for federal aid; natural and unnatural disasters; slow violence and spectacular events; and building power and resisting harm.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Nina McCoy is a retired high school Biology teacher. As a member of Martin County Concerned Citizens she is now working with others in her community to try to get clean, safe, reliable drinking water.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Mary Varson Cromer is an environmental justice attorney working for the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, Inc. in Whitesburg, KY. Mary represents individuals in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky in a variety of environmental justice issues related to the destruction of land and water from surface coal mining and land owners’ rights issues. Mary also works as a community lawyer representing groups facing environmental crises in their communities. Mary joined ACLC in 2008. Prior to working for ACLC, Mary was an associate attorney at Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, VA. Mary clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Glen Conrad in the Western District of Virginia and earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Washington & Lee University School of Law. Mary and her family live in Wise County on a farm that has been in her family since the 1840s.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Cathy Kunkel is a community organizer based in Charleston, WV. She was a co-founder and lead organizer with Advocate for a Safe Water System, a community group that formed in Charleston after the 2014 chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water in Charleston and surrounding counties.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Willie Dodson lives in Wise County VA. As the Central Appalachian Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices, Willie supports and coordinates community engagement in grassroots campaigns dealing with environmental and human health, as well as economic diversification. Appalachian Voices assists community members responding to incidents of water contamination related to surface mining and fossil fuel infrastructure across five states, utilizing water monitoring, research and analysis, public education, and regulatory and legal interventions.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #5
Dana E. Powell, PhD, is assistant professor of Anthropology at Appalachian State University, where she directs the department's undergraduate program in Social Practice and Sustainability. Her interests are in political ecology, indigenous/settler colonial studies, and the politics of infrastructure and her long-term body of research has focused on the cultural politics of energy development and environmental activism in the Navajo (Diné) Nation.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #6
Johanna de Graffenreid found her roots in the environmental justice movement while working for Greenpeace in 2009. For over a decade she has worked as a grassroots trainer, street medic, campaign director, and educator with grassroots, regional, & national organizations. She left the frontlines fighting mountain-top removal as the C.A.R.E. Campaign Coordinator for Coal River Mountain Watch to earn a Masters of Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. She has since worked in the Gulf region on climate justice & oil and gas accountability campaigns. Johanna is currently based in Vermont lobbying to advance state-based policy during the Trump administration.
Battle while we build: Community power in the midst of water crisis
Chemical spills, coal slurry, crumbling infrastructure; these are a few of the things precipitating acute and chronic water crisis in Central Appalachia. Water insecurity is a global problem, exacerbated by climate change, the fossil fuel industry, and the commercialization of water sources. Central Appalachia faces similar and particular challenges to clean water access. As the coal industry declines, coal companies abandon water systems they often helped build and maintain. At the same time, they leave behind buried and polluted streams, sunk wells, and the toxic byproducts from mining and burning coal.
Panelists will discuss their experience living and organizing during water crisis in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia and western North Carolina. From organizing water deliveries during the Elk River 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia to participating in an investigation of the Martin County Water District, panelists will discuss strategies to build community power while responding to community need. The panel will explore the relationship and tensions between decentralized disaster relief and advocating for federal aid; natural and unnatural disasters; slow violence and spectacular events; and building power and resisting harm.
