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Sierra Club Productions

Coal Country

A feature-length documentary, companion book and soundtrack available November 2009.

Executive Producer: Mari-Lynn Evans; Written, Produced and Directed by Phylis Geller. With underwriting and outreach support from Sierra Club Productions and Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

Coal Country airs nationwide on the Planet Green network starting November 14, 2009 at 8pm EST.

Watch the Coal Country trailer.

COAL COUNTRY takes us inside modern coal mining. We get to know working miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We visit the homes of people most directly affected by mountaintop removal mining (MTR) and hear about health problems, dirty water in their wells and streams, and dust and grime on their floors. We hear from miners and coal company officials who are concerned about jobs and the economy and believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people.

Both sides in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a deep love for the land, but MTR is tearing them apart.

Are the people fighting against mountaintop removal really protecting the earth, or do they stand in the way of affordable energy for all Americans? What is behind promises of "cheap energy" and "clean coal." Are they achievable, and at what cost? And what are the alternatives for our energy future?

With support from:
Adam J. Lewis, Earthjustice, Park Foundation

COAL COUNTRY: Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining
Edited by Shirley Stewart Burns, Mari-Lynn Evans, and Silas House
To be published in Fall 2009 by Sierra Club Books
Stories and images from a land under siege--a companion volume to the eagerly awaited film.

Available in November from your favorite bookseller -- or preorder now from one of these online retailers. Look for the home video and companion CD as well:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Liaison Distribution

Find out more:

• Learn about Sierra Club's campaign to move beyond coal
• The Sierra Club's conservation work in Appalachia
• About Writer/Producer/Director Phylis Geller and Executive Producer Mari-Lynn Evans
• Environmental Law Heroes
• Killing King Coal, from SIERRA magazine
• Watch singer Kathy Mattea who offers her personal comments on coal mining, and performs several tracks from her Grammy-nominated CD, COAL, in the film
• Official film website

Kayford Mountain, WV, has been almost entirely destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining. The unmined portion belongs to longtime activist Larry Gibson, whose family has lived on Kayford for 200 years.

In the News:

• Sierra Club Coal Campaign Director Bruce Nilles' blogs on Daily Kos
• Sign up for Sierra Club e-newsletters

Links:

• The Appalachians
• I Love Mountains
  
• Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
  
• Appalachian Voices
  
• Christians for the Mountains
  
• Coal River Mountain Watch
  
• Earthjustice
  
• Keeper of the Mountains
  
• Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
  
• West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
• Alliance for Appalachia
• Kentucky Waterways Alliance
• Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards
• Save Our Cumberland Mountains
• Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment
• Public Justice
• Appalshop
• Appalachian Citizens Law Center
• Waterkeeper Alliance
• "Lost Mountain," by Erik Reece

Photo courtesy Mark Schmerling.