Citizens Coal Council Information

Citizens Coal Council is a national nonprofit organization with the mission to inform, empower and work for and with communities affected by the mining, processing and use of coal. In our continuous effort to support and strengthen the environmental movement as a whole and recognize the critical importance of promoting justice for vulnerable communities affected by the mining, processing and use of coal, Citizens Coal Council has established the following organizational values: - Citizens Coal Council will constantly strive uphold “The Principles of Environmental Justice (EJ)” as drafted and adopted at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit (October 1991). - Citizens Coal Council recognizes the urgency of climate change, the severity of the current and potential impacts of climate change, and that coal has, and continues to have, a significant contribution to climate change. - Citizens Coal Council supports efforts to create sustainable economies in areas that have traditionally been either partly or completely dependent upon coal. - Citizens Coal Council believes in transparency and accountability in decision-making and actions by regulatory authorities, and in the development and implementation of coal-related laws and actions by political officials. - Citizens Coal Council believes that the coal industry should be fully accountable in perpetuity for all deleterious effects on communities and the environment caused by the lifecycle of coal (from extraction to disposal of coal waste). - Citizens Coal Council fully supports the development of clean, sustainable and renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, as well as the ongoing protection of critical natural carbon uptake ecosystems, such as old growth forests.