From the Inbox - Good News for the Appalachian Mountains

		With your support, mountaintop removal can be history! Dear Friend, A year ago I sat across the table from executives at JPMorgan Chase when they stated that, in no uncertain terms, they would not be taking any action on mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR), regardless of its horrendous effects on the people and wild places of Appalachia. Well, guess what? They just did. This week, JPMorgan Chase, America's largest bank, publicly committed to address its financing of mountaintop removal coal mining. This is a big step in the right direction, but it's not the final one. We need Chase to create a policy in which financing MTR is simply not an option. We need $15,000 to finish the job we've started and put an end to mountaintop removal in 2010. Please help us get there. Because of your help over the last twelve months, we were able to send the message loud and clear. It took hundreds of protests at Chase bank branches across the country and innovative actions at their New York and Chicago headquarters, and thousands of emails and calls to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, and I could not be more pleased to report that they finally heard us. Now that they are moving in the right direction, let's help them get over the finish line. Together we can build the necessary pressure to ensure the era of blowing up mountains is over. Donate now to help end mountaintop removal in 2010. Two months ago, the EPA took a major step toward ending MTR by issuing strict new guidelines to block MTR waste from being dumped into neighboring valleys. Now, JPMorgan Chase is publicly committing to address its financing of MTR. We're almost there. We must use this momentum to guarantee our mountains, waterways and communities are protected from MTR forever. We want nothing less than a full ban on mountaintop removal and I believe, with your help, we can make it happen in 2010. This is the last email in our effort to raise $15,000 for our campaign to end mountaintop removal this year- so please give as generously as you can. More than 1 million acres of wild forest, 500 mountain tops, 2000 miles of rivers and streams, and entire communities across Appalachia have already been lost to MTR. Mountaintop removal mining threatens to destroy many millions more acres of land, countless communities and an important piece of American heritage. With your help now, we can launch the major actions and garner the massive support necessary to turn the tide and make MTR a problem of the past, not a plague of our future. I deeply appreciate your support of the people and wild places of Appalachia. For the mountains, Rebecca Tarbotton Acting Executive Director