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For Immediate Release
September, 01 2009, 11:13am EDT
Contact:
Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681
Verizon Wireless Faces Boycott for Supporting Mountaintop Removal
The Center for Biological Diversity plans to boycott Verizon
Wireless if the corporation does not withdraw its sponsorship of a
Labor Day rally supporting mountaintop coal mining and opposing climate
change legislation.
Verizon is cosponsoring the
Friends of America rally, which is being organized by Massey Energy
Company to support mountaintop removal coal mining and to oppose
climate change legislation. The rally features conservative pundit Sean
Hannity and climate-change denier Lord Christopher Monckton.
FLAGSTAFF. Arizona
The Center for Biological Diversity plans to boycott Verizon
Wireless if the corporation does not withdraw its sponsorship of a
Labor Day rally supporting mountaintop coal mining and opposing climate
change legislation.
Verizon is cosponsoring the
Friends of America rally, which is being organized by Massey Energy
Company to support mountaintop removal coal mining and to oppose
climate change legislation. The rally features conservative pundit Sean
Hannity and climate-change denier Lord Christopher Monckton. Tickets
for the rally and concert are free, but guests must register online,
next to a link for a petition opposing the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill,
at https://friendsofamericarally.com/.
On August 30, 2009 the Center notified Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam that
it intended to organize a boycott if Verizon did not withdraw
sponsorship of the event. In just one day, 14,500 letters were sent to
Verizon pressuring the company to retract its sponsorship of the rally.
"Verizon Wireless can't claim to be "going green"
and then join forces with one of the dirtiest companies in the world,"
said Tierra Curry, a biologist with the Center for Biological
Diversity. "Verizon can't keep its hands green and sponsor an event
that supports the destruction of Appalachia and the extinction of a
third of the earth's species due to climate change."
Massey is the fourth largest coal producer in the United States and has
been cited for more than 4,500 Clean Water Act violations in West
Virginia and Kentucky. The rally Web site features a video of Massey
Energy CEO Don Blankenship accusing "environmental extremists" of
trying to destroy jobs by opposing mountaintop removal coal mining. The
rally is being held at the same time as the United Mine Workers of
America Labor Day celebration, forcing workers to choose between the
Union event and the company event.
Coal-fired power
plants are the largest single source of U.S. and global greenhouse gas
emissions. Mountaintop removal is an extreme form of coal mining in
which the top third of mountains are blasted off to expose coal seams
and then the waste is pushed into valleys. Since mountaintop removal
coal mining began in 1970, 1.5 million acres of hardwood forest have
been lost, more than 470 mountaintops have been permanently destroyed,
and 1,200 miles of streams have been buried.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
(520) 623-5252LATEST NEWS
UN Rights Chief: World Can't Accept Israel's 'Blatant Disregard' of International Law
"We can either continue on our current path... and sleepwalk into a dystopian future, or we can wake up and turn things around for the better," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.
Sep 09, 2024
Other countries must hold Israel accountable for violating international law in its war on Gaza and escalating violence in the illegally occupied West Bank, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Monday.
Türk's remarks came as he opened the 57th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva with a wide-ranging warning about the rise of international violence and human rights violations worldwide.
Ending Israel's war on Gaza and "averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority," Türk said.
"States must not—cannot—accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the (U.N.) Security Council and orders of the International Court of Justice, neither in this nor any other situation," he said.
In particular, Türk referenced the International Court of Justice's advisory ruling in July that Israel's occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem is illegal. The ICJ also called on Israel to evacuate its settlers from the West Bank and on other nations not to recognize Israel's occupation as legal or to render any aid to Israel that maintained the status quo.
Türk on Monday called for the situation to be "comprehensively addressed."
He added that Israel's war on Gaza had forced 1.9 million people to flee their homes since October 7, 2023, many more than once, as Hurriyet Daily Newsreported. The war has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to official figures, though experts say the true death toll is likely much higher.
"I urge voters to ask themselves which of the political platforms or candidates will work for the human rights of everyone."
Türk added that "deadly and destructive" operations in the West Bank, such as 10-day period of raids that concluded Friday, are at a scale "not witnessed in the last two decades" and are "worsening a calamitous situation."
He also spoke out for the rights of the likely more than 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and the 101 hostages still held in Gaza.
Beyond Israel and Palestine, Türk also highlighted ongoing conflicts in Sudan and between Russia and Ukraine, noting that the international community seemed to accept the "crossing of innumerable red lines, or readiness to toe right up to them."
"We are at a fork in the road," the human rights chief advised. "We can either continue on our current path—a treacherous 'new normal'—and sleepwalk into a dystopian future, or we can wake up and turn things around for the better, for humanity, and the planet."
In a record election year, Türk argued that committing to the protection of human rights was especially important.
"I urge voters to ask themselves which of the political platforms or candidates will work for the human rights of everyone," he said.
In particular, he encouraged voters to "be wary of the shrill voices, the 'strongman' types that throw glitter in our eyes, offering illusory solutions that deny reality."
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Sep 09, 2024
The family of the U.S. citizen killed by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank last week issued a statement over the weekend demanding that the Biden administration order an "independent investigation," arguing a probe by Israel's military would not be enough to establish the facts and pursue justice.
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A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in the wake of Eygi's killing, which sparked global outrage, that "we are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen" and "have reached out to the government of Israel to ask for more information and request an investigation into the incident." The U.S. is Israel's chief diplomatic ally and arms supplier.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), for its part, claimed that soldiers "responded with fire" in the direction of "a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them." The IDF said it is "looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area."
But one eyewitness who was present when Eygi was killed told reporters that "it was quiet" when the deadly shot was fired, contradicting the IDF's account.
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Longtime Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack describes the “intentional killing” of American Aysenur Eygi in the West Bank:
“It was quiet. There was nothing to justify the shot. The shot was taken to kill.” pic.twitter.com/2eTOYDEqpI
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) September 6, 2024
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Eygi was at least the third U.S. citizen killed by the IDF in the West Bank since the Israeli military launched its assault on the Gaza Strip following a deadly Hamas-led attack on October 7. The IDF is notorious for refusing to hold its soldiers accountable for massacring civilians, mostly Palestinians.
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Van Hollen said he has "repeatedly raised these concerns" with top administration officials, including Blinken.
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"We strongly condemn this criminal attack," Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said during a press conference in Tehran.
Kanaani went on to urge Israel's weapons suppliers, chiefly the United States and Germany, to "stop supporting and arming it" as its catastrophic assault on the Gaza Strip spills out across the region. Nearly 40 people were wounded in Israel's strikes on Sunday, according to a Syrian health official, and several are in critical condition.
Citing two unnamed regional intelligence sources, Reutersreported early Monday that the Israeli strikes hit a "major military research center for chemical arms production located near Misyaf."
The facility, according to Reuters, "is believed to house a team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production."
Kanaani denied that the facility hit was connected to Iran.
"What official sources from the Syrian government have announced is that there were attacks on some Syrian facilities, including an attack on a research center affiliated with the Ministry of Defense and the Syrian army," he said.
Civilians were reportedly among those killed and wounded in Sunday's strikes, which came as the world awaited Iran's expected military response to Israel's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July.
Israeli forces have carried out dozens of airstrikes in Syria—including one targeting Iran's consulate in Damascus—since the Hamas-led October 7 attack, which prompted Israel's large-scale assault on Gaza.
Al Jazeerareported that Israeli forces continued to pummel the Palestinian enclave on Monday, bombing "al-Amoudi street in the Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City." The outlet noted that "at least 10 people have been killed today in attacks across the Gaza Strip."
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