A Message from Willa Mays and Appalachian Voices

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of America's most popular laws — the Clean Water Act — was passed 40 years ago when thousands of people demanded that we stop dumping waste into our water and our politicians listened.

Enforcement is another matter. It's not surprising that an industry that will blow up the Appalachian Mountains for greater profits will also defy law to pollute our mountain streams. But the failure of state agencies to enforce the law is astonishing. Appalachian Water Watch has exposed tens of thousands of water violations in central Appalachia, where living near mountaintop coal mining shortens life spans, increases birth defects, and increases cancer risk (see The Human Cost of Coal below).

In the drought-prone Southeast, where two-thirds of all water withdrawals are used to cool electric generating plants and the majority of our waterways have unsafe levels of mercury pollution, we are working for protections through the Red, White and Water campaign. The only way to ensure our water is safe is to continue the struggle and work for our freedom.

Thank you for standing with us.

Willa Mays
Executive Director, Appalachian Voices