G.R.E.E.N.
Grass Roots Environmental Effort Newsletter

September 2000

On the Road

by Donald S. Garvin, Jr., WVEC President

Lander, Wyoming - As I sit writing this column I am looking out the cabin window at the aspen and lodgepole pine along the banks of the Popo Agie River. The aspen leaves are fluttering and the larger pine trees are swaying in the wind as a late afternoon thunderstorm has moved into the Wind River Mountains.

It's been a dry, dry, dry year in the Rockies, but this afternoon it is raining and this storm has arrived without the presence of dry lightning strikes that have set so much of the West ablaze. The rain is welcomed indeed. Most of the nation is aware of the forest and range fires here, but the severity of the current western drought seems to have gone largely unreported.

On the local radio station this morning, in between old cowboy songs and the latest hot country and western numbers, there was a report that researchers have found that 95% of the top soils in the state of Wyoming are bone dry - with zero percent moisture content. And while most of the streams in the mountains still have plenty of water from snow melt, those same streams down in the valleys are also running bone dry, with most of the water having been removed for irrigation.

Wildlife and fish are taking it on the chin here. Some of the critters are trying to adapt. Larger animals such as moose, elk and deer, are migrating to wherever there is water and forage. Our cabin is at 7,200' in elevation and we have never seen rattlesnakes up this high before, but this year we've seen a couple - they apparently are following the ground squirrels and other small rodents up to where the water is.

However, it's the flora that is taking the brunt of the punishment. I have never seen the forests so dry here; years of natural fire suppression are now compounding the situation, with catastrophic consequences. With the normally arid grasslands now equally abnormally parched, the ultimate impact to fish and wildlife could also be catastrophic.

So I sit here thinking how fortunate our West Virginia summer has been, with plenty of rain keeping our streams full and our soils wet. I think how fortunate we are that our Mountain State streams are not dewatered each year for agricultural irrigation. I sit here thinking just how precious good, clean and abundant water is to us, and how much we must do to protect it.

For me, at least, it brings into clear focus the importance of the West Virginia Environmental Council. I will cut short my stay at this wonderful cabin nestled in the pines on my favorite trout stream so I can return to West Virginia in time for the WVEC annual meeting - so I can help WVEC fight to protect our water.

I hope you will be at the annual meeting, too. It's important for you to be there. I know that's where I will be.

Meanwhile, I fish, therefore, I am . . .

'98 PERC Report Released

An extensive comparison of the role of special interests in the '96 and '98 WV elections is available. The People's Election Reform Coalition (PERC) has made 30 copies available to the WVEC. For a donation of $10 or more to the WVEC, we'll ship you this most revealing of reports. We'll have the PERC reports for "sale" at the Annual Convention. Call 346-5891 for more info.

July Passings

Anne Harvey died last month after a long illness. She was the co-founder of the Harrison County group ECO and a former board member of the West Virginia Environmental Council.

In the very early days of the WVEC, out of state garbage was THE ISSUE. The threat of New Jersey garbage produced more "grass roots" activism than timbering, MTR, and the pulp mill combined. Nearly every county in the state was targeted and in most of those counties one or two outraged people stepped forward into a position of leadership. Anne Harvey was one of those reluctant leaders.

Those days were the "good old days" for many of us. People like Chuck & Linda Schnautz, Ginny & John Mahan (Ginny now a House of Delegates member), Martha Huffman, former State Senator Don Macnaughtan, the Hogbins, Sampsons, Degens, Doyle Coakley, Jeff Allen and many, many more joined with the traditional environmental groups to create a united voice at the legislature.

These folks weren't just about garbage. They saw the bigger picture and gave us the political capital and physical energy to tackle things like groundwater, recycling, incineration, pulp mills, acid mine drainage, MTR, campaign finance reform and guarding of government. These veterans of the "garbage wars" may have started out as single issue NIMBYs, but they soon evolved into 360-degree environmentalists.

No one better exemplifies that evolution than Anne Harvey. I first met Anne back in 1989 when she was fighting the Meadowfill landfill near Clarksburg. She and a small band of outraged friends (soon to become ECO) mounted the opposition to the mega landfill. Anne and friends used many tactics in their attempt to limit the size of the dump. One such tactic was to advocate for waste reduction. They were among the very first to successfully petition their county to mandate recycling programs.

I don't think I will offend any ECO member if I call Anne the heart and soul of your group. In some ways she became the political conscience of Harrison County. She was an ardent environmentalist who also worked to expose suspect local politics. She ran for the House of Delegates in 1994 mainly to create a forum on issues no other candidate wanted to talk about. Anne, like many of us, came to realize that without true campaign finance reform; no other reforms were really possible. Anne supported the work of the People's Election Reform Coalition (PERC) and even though seriously ill, opened up her house to Granny D as she walked across the state.

Last year I nominated Anne Harvey for the Linda Schnautz Environmental Courage Award, a WVEC award that celebrates people who have shown amazing courage in the face of adversity. I called Chuck Schnautz and told him that the Council had selected Anne to receive the award named in honor of his late wife. I could tell that Chuck was pleased with the choice and he said something like "Linda really liked Anne. They were kindred spirits with very different styles." Linda and Anne were very different yet they were both leaders in their communities. Both saw the forest and the individual trees. Both women lived with a painful disease yet maintained their spirit and activism. There is a certain symmetry for me that Anne Harvey died almost 4 years to the day that we lost Linda.

Ginny Mahan once described Linda as "sweet as an apple on Christmas day." For me, Anne was a different kind of dessert. She was like a cobbler with a tough crust that you had to penetrate before you found the sweetness. If there is a place out there where good souls go to connect, I've got to believe Anne and Linda have found each other again.

--Norm Steenstra

Windpower Project Needs EIS

by Frank Young

A large windmill facility (wind farm) is proposed for Backbone Mountain in Tucker County. The permitting process for the project appears to be on the fast track. The West Virginia Public Service Commission (P.S.C.) is accepting protests about this proposed facility until September 15th.

The President of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is asking the P.S.C. to conduct an independent Environmental Impact Study and to conduct a formal hearing on the project before approving the application.

This wind generation facility is proposed along a major route to the tourist regions of the Potomac Highlands. It is projected to have giant wind turbines along a seven mile corridor on a ridgetop just a few miles north and west of Blackwater Falls State Park, Blackwater Canyon (nominated for National Park status), and Canaan Valley State Park.

This windmill farm has the potential to produce a significant visual blight on a large part of Tucker County. The large blades and supporting tower assemblies will loom over 100 yards (the length of a football field) in height. They would be seen for miles.

If you want more public inquiry into this proposed facility, you may write to: Sandra Squire, Executive Secretary, W.Va. Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 812, Charleston WV 25323, before September 15th.

Refer to Case number 00-1209-E-CN, the Backbone Mountain Windpower Project.

You can ask for a public hearing, an independent Environmental Impact Study by the P.S.C., or make any other comments.

It is important, however, to style your comments as a PROTEST of the application, whether or not you actually oppose the project. Otherwise, unless protests are received by the P.S.C., the commission may waive formal hearing and grant the application without study.

For further information you may contact Frank Young at (304) 372-3945 or e-mail frankly@mtparty.org.

Windpower: A Cleaner Choice

by Jim Kotcon

I would urge environmentalists to think long and hard before opposing a clean, renewable electricity source like windpower. I do not believe we will ever break the political or economic power of the coal industry if we oppose the most environmentally sensible and economically feasible alternative. I have spent much of the last three years trying to convince the PSC to promote renewable energy sources as part of the utility deregulation process. The market demand is there, the technology is available, and the environmental impacts are minimal. I recognize that high elevation locations inevitably involve visual impacts, but I believe West Virginia needs to open its markets to this technology and we only benefit the mountaintop removal industry by raising objections to this proposal.

The only benefit we are likely to get from utility deregulation is the opportunity to use market demand to push toward renewable alternative energy sources.

I wish there were some magic alternative that had no impacts, but that is not realistic. I also believe that energy conservation should be pursued more vigorously. But any reasonable assessment of the future of the electricity industry in the U. S. means we will need new sources, if for no other purpose than to replace existing nuclear power and the dirty coal plants currently being fed by mountaintop removal mines. You can be sure that the WV Coal Association would love to see us kill this proposal.

If you have time to write to the PSC, ask them to require emissions disclosure and resource mix reporting as part of their consumer disclosure requirements for their utility deregulation rules (comment period ends Sept. 18). The proposed rules for utility deregulation ONLY require disclosure of price characteristics, implying that price is the only basis for choosing an electric supplier.

Evidence from other states clearly demonstrates that environmental factors are a major reason for choosing among electric suppliers, but the Coal Association and the utilities have successfully lobbied the PSC to delete this consumer information requirement from West Virginia's rules. If people do not comment to reverse this decision, coal will continue to have a monopoly in West Virginia, only now it will be an unregulated monopoly.

I believe that this is the real electric generation issue in West Virginia and it will be counter productive and anti-environmental to oppose wind power. I recognize that there are legitimate impacts that will occur, but these are the lesser of two evils if placed in the overall environmental context.

I also question whether there is any legal mechanism for requiring or even requesting an Environmental Impact Statement. There is no federal regulatory connection and the state of WV certainly does not do an EIS without one, so such a request would have to go to a federal agency with oversight. Comments requesting an EIS would likely be ignored.

Little Red Electric Cars

by Don Macnaughtan

I enjoyed Gary Zuckett's "Sustainable Fair" piece, but it reminded me that "not all is as it seems." Specifically, let's visit the little red electric retrofit car for a minute. John Williams of Natural Lifeways took a Honda CRX and converted it to an electric car. The article indicated John explained that gasoline motors are only about 40% efficient compared to electric motors that are 90+% efficient. This is supposed to good and a plus for the electric car. We certainly don't want to waste energy. No argument about the efficiencies; however, one must take a step further back and compare apples with apples, in this case the energy actually consumed.

Gasoline is burned in an internal combustion engine and about 40% of the energy is captured doing something useful, the rest is lost. In order to have electricity to charge up electric cars, one must (generally) burn coal and generate steam, which is passed through turbines to turn generators to produce electricity. In general terms, only about 30 - 40% of the energy in the coal is converted to electric energy, the rest is lost as in the internal combustion engine.

The efficiency of both these processes are governed by the "Carnot Cycle" which limits them both to about 35% efficiency (see any thermodynamics textbook). Hence one is only utilizing 30 - 40% of the energy in the gasoline or in the coal used to produce the electricity. Thus, one is not helping out one damn bit by driving an electric car. No net energy is saved and the pollution from burning the gasoline or the coal is still there

Now, if the batteries in the "little red electric retrofit" were charged up by a solar panel utilizing the sun's energy, we might be talking "sustainable" and "conservation." Solar panel technology now produces electricity at very nearly the same cost as that from coal fired power plants. Solar panels are a lot more portable the electric outlets also. So you see: "Things are not always as they might seem," especially coming from someone who wants to sell you something.

Save the Rainforest

by Chris Hogbin, WVEC Action Alert Coordinator

Join Care2.com's Race for the Rain Forest by visiting http://rainforest.care2.com/i?p=628117202.

So far we, as a group, have saved almost 3,000 square feet of rainforest - which puts us in the 5th level (there are 10 levels).

This is a FREE way to help save the rainforest in less than a minute a day. You can add the link to your "My Favorites" section and click on it everyday.

This is run through the Nature Conservancy and they also have a site linked to the Rainforest site to help the Big Cats and in the same way you can save acreage just by clicking on a button each day.

This has been a lot of fun for me when I click on each day to see how many of you have been to the site and what an impact we are making as a group.

Update Your E-Mail Address

If you would like to receive e-mail action alerts from Chris Hogbin, WVEC Action Alert Coordinator, please send your name and e-mail address to cahogbin@cs.com. Also, if your e-mail address has changed, please send Chris your new one so she can keep you in the loop!!

West Virginia's New Claim to Fame

by Janet Fout, OVEC

Julie, my daughter, and I were having a conversation on a bus in Paris (during my sabbatical trip abroad). A man sitting beside us asked what part of the U.S. we were from (our unmistakable accents).

When I told him West Virginia, he replied, "Oh, that's the place where they're blowing up mountains to get to the coal. I've heard about that."

The lady sitting in front of him began nodding her head vigorously. She had heard about it, too.

I was conflicted - pleased that OVEC and other activists had been effective in conveying the message worldwide that mountaintop removal was destroying our state, but saddened that this was undoubtedly West Virginia's newest claim to fame. Truly, the whole world is watching.

Glass Houses: A Response

by Julian Martin

I was dismayed to read the article entitled "Glass Houses - WVCAG Perspective" by Norman Steenstra in the last edition of GREEN.

The issue is the Blackwater Campaign TV ads that contained, among other things, deserved exposure of Governor Underwood for giving the Blackwater Canyon to John Crites. The Blackwater campaign has been exposing Underwood for the way he has given away this beautiful canyon from the very beginning. It makes no sense to stop pointing out for one whole election year that Underwood is a major problem when it comes to saving the Blackwater Canyon.

The article claimed that the Blackwater campaign leadership is actively supporting Bob Wise-I am a member of that group and I am not supporting Bob Wise for Governor.

One member of the Blackwater campaign leadership, Judy Rodd, is working sixty hour weeks, for no pay, to save Blackwater Canyon and West Virginia forests in general. The number of people putting in such long hours fighting for our environment is small. Public attacks need to be aimed at the people making the mistakes we all agree are mistakes - the mountaintop removers, the forest destroyers, the water and air polluters and politicians who sell out to this list.

We don't need to be giving ammunition to the enemy by publicly condemning sincere people who are working effectively to save our environment. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Let's stick together, support one another and discuss our differences away from the eyes of the enemy.

Editor's Note:

Hopefully printing this letter will play out the controversy created by last issue's article on Glass Houses. To put everything in perspective, here's "the rest of the story"

Norm's article was actually written in response to one submitted by Judy Rodd for inclusion in the same issue. Judy Rodd's article was a very positive perspective on the 'soft money' type ads that Highland's Blackwater Committee paid for. Since there was a significant difference of opinion here, GREEN's editors asked Judy for a transcript of the ads to print along side both articles so that readers would know first hand what was being discussed.

Rodd declined to release text for the ads and subsequently requested her article be pulled from GREEN. Members of the publication committee met with Judy and agreed to throw out all 750 copies of that page (which had already been printed) and start over. At that point the editors should also have pulled Steenstra's article, but in the rush to press (a room full of volunteers were waiting on that page to finish putting GREEN together) we left it in.

Hind sight is a wonderful thing. I think we all are working for the same goal (i.e., the preservation of the Wild and Wonderful in West Virginia). Where we differ in tactics and approach we need a forum for discussion (not attacks) about these differences. If this publication isn't the proper venue for those discussions, what is? See page three for this issue's "debate" on wind power.

West Virginia Environmental Conference Set for October

The 2000 West Virginia Conference on the Environment will be held October 12 at the University of Charleston.

This year's program will focus on Environmental Myths and Facts and will include panels on (1) Prioritizing Environmental Risks, (2) The Politics of Risk Analysis, (3) Recycling and Conservation and (4) the Media's Role in Shaping Public Opinion.

The Conference is an annual presentation of the West Virginia Environmental Institute, and the planning committee includes agency personnel, industry reps and environmental activists.

The conference, now in its 13th year, was initiated to provide a forum where various interests could speak to and hear one another without the shouting and emotion that can sometimes accompany environmental discussions when important issues are on the line.

The day-long conference will be at the University of Charleston from 8 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. and will include lunch and a reception. The fee for the conference is $75. Partial scholarships will be available for individuals not able to afford the full cost.

For additional information or registration forms, contact planning committee members Greg Adolfson, Leroy Gilbert, Roland Huson, Skipp Kropp, or Pam Nixon or call Conni Gratop Lewis at 925-6123.

Appalachian Studies Association invites you to gather on Snowshoe Mountain to participate in its annual meeting March 30 - April 1, 2001.

Environmental groups should submit a proposal for a workshop, roundtable discussion, or skill sharing on current environmental concerns in West Virginia. Ideas for a presentation must be submitted by September, 29th to Sandra Barney, ASA Program Committee Chair, 213 Raub Hall, Dept. of History, Political Science, Economics and Management, Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA 17745. Phone: 570-893-2161. Also call Janet at OVEC at: 304-522-0246. For more info., visit www.AppalachianStudies.org

Creation's Corner

Please excuse our failure to credit Barbara Smith of the Barbour County Writers' Workshop for submitting the three previously included poems, "Hiaku in Appalachia", "Perfect Answer", and "In the Course of Things". We are grateful for the writings, prayers and thoughts which we are fortunate enough to receive and hope that Creation's Corner will continue to provoke interest among our readers. Please send submissions to lmallet@wvwise.org.

Please consider attending the WVEC's Fall Meeting at the Folklife Center in Pipestem. There will be at least one workshop devoted to spiritual aspects of environmental issues, as well as many unplanned opportunities to talk and share with other who have similar interests and concerns.

Following are submissions from various authors - Anomalous (suspected of living in Calhoun County), St. Francis of Assisi, and Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund. If we were to expand Ms. Edelman's prayer to include God's Creation, what would we say? I look forward to hearing your responses.

In the One Light of God's Grace,

Mary Ellen O'Farrell

He who dies with the most toys wins.

She who produces the least waste wins.

Which game would Jesus play?

-Anomalous

Praised by my Lord God with all his creatures, and especially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with a great spendour; O Lord, he signifies to us Thee.

Praised by my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, which he has set clear and lovely in the heaven.

Praised by my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean.

Praised by my Lord for our brother fire, through whom Thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.

Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth divers fruit, and flowers of many colours, and grass.

Praised by my Lord for all those who pardon one another for his love's sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, for Thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown.

Praised by my Lord for our sister the death of the body.

Blessed are they who are found walking by thy most holy will.

Praise ye and bless ye the Lord, and give thanks unto him, and serve him with great humility.

-St. Francis of Assisi, 1181 - 1226

Oh God, forgive our rich nation where small children suffer from hunger quite legally.

Oh God, forgive our rich nation where toddlers and school children die from guns sold quite legally.

Oh God, forgive our rich nation that lest children be the poorest group of citizens quite legally.

Oh God, forgive our rich nation that lets the rich continue to get more at the expense of the poor quite legally.

Oh God, forgive our rich nation which thinks security rests in missiles rather than in mothers, and in bombs rather than in babies.

God, forgive our rich nation for not giving you sufficient thanks by giving to others their daily bread.

Oh God, help us never to confuse what is quite legal with what is just and right in your sight.

-Marian Wright Edelman (submitted by Dot Henry)

Silent Auctions R Us

Clean out those attics, drawers, closets and basements folks ~ its time once again for our annual Silent Auction held at the Fall Convention! Bring something you've made, outgrown, have clones of, or bought special just for us! You could even ask a friendly local business for support . the imaginations the limit!

Campaign button collections, books, nostalgic tee shirts, hand-sewn quilts, clothing, wood block prints, hand-carved spoons, Nepal necklaces, Cheat River Lodge retreats, pottery, antiques and even an RV are just a few of the interesting items and offerings folks have donated in the past!

Remember ­ this is a fundraiser for WVEC and a substantial source of revenue each year ­ so don't leave home without a treasure or two. Lets plan to have fun with this ­ and oh yea, don't forget to come prepared to outbid your best friend! (all in the name of fun-raising of course).

For more info., call the WVEC office at 346-5905.

WV's Clean Water Laws in Trouble

by Jeremy Muller, WVRC

West Virginia Rivers Coalition filed a Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the lack of an anti-degradation implementation policy in May 1999. As of today, we still do not have one.

Anti-degradation is the part of the Clean Water Act that is intended to keep our clean waters clean. An anti-degradation review is an analysis conducted by DEP to determine if polluting a river or stream is warranted by an economic or socially beneficial outcome of that polluting activity. The implementation policy is developed by the W.Va. Environmental Quality Board (EQB) and is intended solely to determine whether or not this review is triggered, not to prevent any polluting activity. EPA is the agency that must approve or disapprove the West Virginia policy after the state legislature has passed the EQB-forwarded document in the 2001 session.

EQB drafted a final document that contained some very bad language. The most devastating was the grandfathering clause that excluded all existing permits from an anti-degradation review. While most of it seemed like technical jargon, it added up to a simple point: West Virginia's clean water was not being protected!

On August 3 EQB held a public hearing on its draft document. Over 150 people attended, including an impressive 40 or more from the environmental community who brandished signs and took front row seats. Industry and its various cohorts were out in full force too, citing the expected lines that environmental regulations will kill the (choose one: farming, manufacturing, chemical, steel, coal) industry as we know it, and how their companies will have to relocate to (choose one: Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Zimbabwe) in order to survive.

The evening became night as the EQB had trouble adhering to their 3-minute-per-speaker limit, as well as the numbers on their sign-in sheet. Accordingly, many folks left early. Those who commented for a strong policy spoke excellently about the need and benefits of anti-degradation. WVRC thanks everybody who showed up at the hearing. We know this was a long drive for many of you, and that unlike the other representatives, you were not being paid, or padding your expense account. Thank you for taking your valuable time to attend!

The EQB also had a written comment period on the draft policy. Impressively, the environmental community provided well over half of the comments, around 140 out of approximately 235 total comments!

The comment period closed on 5:00PM August 16, and EQB met at 9:00AM on the 17th, leaving folks doubtful that the EQB members could read 200-plus comments in the few hours between receiving them and deliberations on the final policy. Further, the EQB kept about a dozen comments on hand during their deliberations which they consistently referred too, suggesting that indeed all comments were not read.

What was noticeable between the public hearing and the EQB deliberations was the alteration of the EQB. Long-time Board Member and co-chair Dr. Donald Tarter was suspiciously replaced at the last minute with Dr. Cameron Hackney. At 9:00AM on Friday August 18th, Dr. Hackney made his first appearance as a member of the EQB, and had to make crucial final decisions on a policy that he was not familiar with. This appeared to be unfair to everyone who had been involved with anti-degradation for the past year (the stakeholders, commentors, EQB members) as well as to Dr. Hackney.

During the 17th, all day on the 18th, and for a two-hour conference call on the 21st, the EQB then developed its final policy. It was disappointing that on none of these occasions did they have the entire Board in attendance.

It was most disappointing to sit during all of this and watch as one by one each provision in the policy was weakened. Particularly after a stakeholder committee had been established and worked quite hard for more than a year to provide consensus items for the EQB to adopt. Particularly after the U.S. EPA had written the EQB providing changes to the policy that must be made in order for the policy to receive EPA approval. Particularly after such a majority of written comments on behalf of a stronger policy were submitted, and so many of those same comments were made in person at the public hearing.

So this leaves us in September of 2000 with a very weak anti-degradation policy going to the legislature. We have a policy that will almost assuredly be disapproved by EPA, which means we will still be without anti-degradation for a considerable time. We are left to believe that when votes were being counted, the Governor replaced an EQB member with someone he was more comfortable with.

Finally, we are left with the belief that the common voice of our citizenry, who significantly outnumbered the voice of the opposition, was utterly and completely ignored by West Virginia Environmental Quality Board.

Ya'll Come!

12th Annual W V Environmental Council Fall Convention

Agenda

Appalachian South Folklife Center, Pipestem, WV

September 29 ­ October 1, 2000

Friday, September 29

5:00 ­ 9:00 PM--Registration/Free Time/Social Time

Saturday, September 30

7:30 ­ 8:30 AM--Breakfast--$5 or bring your own

8:45 ­ Noon--Registration continues

9:00 AM--Welcome:--Don Garvin, WVEC President; Shelli Turner, Folklife Center

9:15 ­ 10:30 AM--We All Live on A Dot: Introductions/Issues of personal interest/What got you here

10:30 ­ 10:45 AM--Break

10:45 ­ Noon--Legislative Review, Interim Reports, Issue Overview - Group discussion to identify emerging issues.

Noon ­ 1:45 PM--Regional Meetings and Lunch--Bring your own lunch or share, meet with your region, discuss/ identify local issues, elect regional board members.

1:45 ­ 2:00 PM--Group reconvenes--Explanation of workshops/issue caucuses

2:00 ­ 4:00 PM--Workshops:

--Women & the Environment (2:00 PM)

--Spirituality & the Environment (3:00 PM)

--Issues Caucuses (2 ­ 4PM): Meet with others interested in your issue (water, wood, coal, and more)

4:00 ­ 6:00 PM--Softball Game/Outing/Free Time

6:00 ­ 8:00 PM--Pot Luck Supper--Bring a dish to share

8:00 ­ 9:30 PM--"How Do We Do Good For the Environment in This Political Climate?"

--Mary Pearl Compton - WV House of Delegates

--Paul Nyden - Investigative Reporter, Charleston Gazette

All Evening--Silent Auction (to conclude at 10:00 PM)

10:00 PM--Camp Fire--Bring your musical instrument!!!

Sunday, October 1

7:30 ­ 8:45 AM--Breakfast--$5 or bring your own

8:30 ­ 9:00 AM--Universal worship service ­ Mary Ellen O'Farrell

9:30 ­ 10:00 AM--Regional Reports (5 minutes/region)--Introduction of new Board members

10:00 ­ 10:15 AM--Break

10:15 ­ Noon--2001 Legislative Session: Setting priorities

Noon--Wrap Up and Clean Up

12:30 ­ 2PM--WVEC Board Meeting

WVEC's 12th Annual Convention

REGISTRATION

September 29 -Oct. 1st 2001

Appalachian South Folk Life Center, Pipestem, WV

Please register for meals in advance. Saturday lunch is on your own. Saturday Supper will be covered dish, so bring an entree to share! You can also register on-line: e-mail lmallet@wvwise.org with your name, number in your group, number of nights, number of meals, and specify camping or dorm accommodations.

Name(s) ________________________________________________________________

Address______________________________City_______________St.____Zip________

Phone_______________________E-Mail______________________________________

____Registration ($10 Adult/$5 Student)

____Saturday Breakfast ($5/ea)

____Sunday Breakfast ($5 ea)

____Tent Camping ($7/night/site)

____ Dorm Bunks ($12/night/person, bring linens or sleeping bag)

____ I can't make it this year but am enclosing a donation.

____ I am enclosing my membership renewal ($25/year)

Total Enclosed: _________

Make checks payable to WVEC and mail to: 1324 Virginia St., E., Charleston, WV 25301

DIRECTIONS TO APPALACHIAN SOUTH FOLKLIFE CENTER:

From I-77 take Route 20 toward Athens. Go through Athens toward Pipestem. 1/4 mile past State Park entrance turn right on Indian Ridge Road. Take left onto Rocky Mount Road (approximately 8/10 of a mile from highway). The Center will be on the right approximately 1/2 mile. Call 466-0626 if lost.