On January 8^th, hundreds of people from all over the state descended upon Richmond to have their voices heard by the State Corporation Commission on the issue of whether to build another coal fired power plant in Wise County. By our count, there were over 300 dissenters at the hearing (a number so large that we required a spillover courtroom to hold us all), 177 of which were registered to testify. These numbers are in addition to the 815 people who submitted written testimony to the SCC by the December deadline. The testimony was strong, and the message was clear: we don’t want coal!

Lawyers who have been working with the SCC for upwards to 30 years have said that they have never seen anything like the public turnout that the Wise County plant is receiving.

But this is more than just the sheer numbers; this is about who was there, where they were from, and how they got there.

Residents of Wise County poured into the courtroom by the dozens to tell the story of what has already happened to them. Coal has, in many respects, destroyed their lives. One woman that I talked to said that she had, “her her little piece of heaven,” in the mountains of Wise County, but Dominion and mountaintop removal coal mining has gotten a little too close for comfort. The mountain top removal mining pollutes her water, ruins her view, and destroys the local air quality.

Stories like this were not uncommon (and in some respects, this was a tame one), which is why so many traveled the 8 hours to attend the hearing. Children missed school, adults missed work, families were separated for days; all to have a chance to beg the SCC to let them retain their way of life and keep their mountains.

The day was inspirational to say the least. Out in the halls a duo played bluegrass music and students danced. Out on the streets, people stood with signs that parodied corporate logos and said “Dominion: Global Warming Starts Here.” In the courtroom, people respectfully waited their turn to speak, delivering heartfelt missives of compassion, betrayal, fear, and hope.

The word, “inspirational” doesn’t begin to sum up the hearing, but it is a start. This hearing was our first real call to action, our first chance to confront those with the power to stop the Wise county power plant to do the right and moral thing. But there is still a long way to go.

The SCC hearing was the beginning. It was my chance to meet the people effected by mountaintop removal and the people affected by sea level rise and the people affected by increasingly hot summers.

This is the real call to action: to fight until we win! Dominion picked this fight, and the SCC was our first chance to rebut, but we are going to need so much more to win. We need all hands on deck for our Jan. 21^st Lobby Day, we need people to collect more petitions, we need more resolutions passed in defense of our mountains, we need you to contact your elected officials, we need you to do everything in your power to fight coal!

I know that Dominion won’t back down, but neither will we. Luckily we have the people of Virginia on our side and the resolve to fight until we win, and with that, we cannot lose.