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Collecting Pennies For The Promise

from this land by jm (fka Joshua Marcus)

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about

When I started this project I was planning on doing only one song focused on coal issues, but
I found Ed and the work of Pennies for Promise so honest, accessible and inspiring that I wanted
to share it with others. These folks have decided that the lack of government oversight of the coal industry is unacceptable. The impoundment that sits above the elementary school is leaking and the airborne coal dust from the plant migrates inside the school, and into the children’s bodies. Since the West Virginia governor and senators will not help move the school, Pennies of Promise will raise the 5 million dollars necessary to move the school themselves.
In 2006, Ed Wiley marched nearly 500 miles from Marsh Fork school to the senate offices in Washington D.C. to raise awareness of the students’ plight and to lobby for coal regulation. Although the organization hasn’t yet raised the money to move the school, the citizens have started seeing their efforts heeded. Since the citizen’s organizing began, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has twice denied Massey Energy’s application to put a second coal silo at the plant behind the school.
My thanks to Ed Wiley, Debbie Jarrell, Judy Bonds and the folks at Coal River Mountain Watch, and Vivian Stockman and Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

lyrics

When I was eight years old
I didn’t have to worry none About coal dust in my school Or being washed away
One-quarter mile from the school to the impoundment A tenth of a mile from the plant that scrubs the coal
200 feet from where they train out from the silo With dynamite blasting in the strip mine right above
A dam failed in ‘72 Killing 125
One failed 9 years ago 300 million gallon flood
Just last Christmas time Another failed in Tennessee 50 times the size
Of Exxon Valdez
Billions of gallons in this leaking impoundment
Just one-quarter mile uphill from the school
Families have pleaded with the Governor to move the kids He must be in bed with coal cause he turns a deaf ear
From the black waters above
3 billion gallons of toxic sludge That is leaking as I sing
It will fail in time
16 people were arrested for protesting his refusal
To relocate Marsh Fork School out of harms way
So the families take collection, take the matters in their own hands Collecting pennies for the promise of their kids
Ed Wiley marched 500 miles to Washington
He won’t rest till his granddaughter’s school is moved
He started the collection to ensure their future’s better Cause it seems Governor Manchin only cares about the coal

credits

from this land, released January 1, 2009

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jm (fka Joshua Marcus) image

jm (fka Joshua Marcus) Providence, Rhode Island

jm loves cooking with and for friends, all things musical, making art with shapes, and getting out of one's brain. and the ocean. and genuineness.

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