The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog

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MEDIA ADVISORY
For January 31 and February 1, 2007

**PHOTO OPPORTUNITY**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2007

CONTACT: Ethan Green, Rising Tide North America
(856) 535 5053 / Ethan@RisingTideNorthAmerica.org

MIAMI PROTEST--INTERNATIONAL COAL INDUSTRY CONVENTION

Activists Will Unite to Confront Coal
Kingpins at Their Exclusive Annual Gathering

WHEN: 9 am - 1 pm on Wednesday, January 31 AND Thursday, February 1

WHERE: Intersection of Crandon Blvd. and Grand Bay Drive
Key Biscayne, FL 33149 (5 miles driving from downtown Miami)
At the public entrance to the Ritz-Carlton resort

WHAT: Environmental & social justice activists from across Florida and the
South will protest the "Coaltrans Americas" 2007 annual international coal
industry convention in Miami, Florida. The Coaltrans convention, happening
on Jan. 31st and Feb. 1st in Key Biscayne's Ritz-Carlton resort, will
bring business leaders and government officials from the energy,
utilities, banking, transportation, and insurance sectors together in
Miami from throughout the Americas. The purpose of this Coaltrans event is
to promote coal development throughout the Western Hemisphere. Activists
will rally to present loud & visible creative actions that will: 1) urge
investors to pursue clean energy development instead of coal; 2) demand
that coal producers immediately cease environmental destruction including
"mountain-top removal" (MTR) coal-mining and global warming pollution; and
3) highlight the urgent crisis of human rights abuses and violent
exploitation committed by the coal industry on rural and indigenous
communities, and mineworkers, throughout the Americas. The Wednesday
January 31st protest will focus on coal issues in North America. The
Thursday February 1st protest will focus on coal issues in Latin America.
A public event open-to-all featuring speakers & films critical of coal
will take place this Thursday evening at the Wallflower Gallery in
downtown Miami (starting 7 pm; location: 10 NE 3rd St).

WHY: Major coal industry decision-makers & representatives attending the
"Coaltrans Americas" convention are responsible for human rights
violations against coalfield communities and mineworkers, as well as high
levels of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution leading to an epidemic
of children suffering asthma, and massive expanses of irreplaceable land
destroyed by MTR mining. Despite the fact that global warming is
accelerating every day, over 150 new coal power plants are now planned to
be built in the United States, including one in Florida's Everglades.
Local, regional and worldwide grassroots opposition to these
irresponsible, deadly practices of the coal industry is intense and
growing, from the Everglades and Appalachia in the southern US to Colombia
and Venezuela in South America. A diverse alliance of local Miami and
regional Southern activists will - for the first time - protest the annual
Coaltrans Americas convention, in order to raise public awareness about
the problems with coal and give voice to a common demand for rapid
society-wide transitioning away from harmful, unsustainable coal use &
towards clean, renewable energy sources.

WHO: Organizations participating in and supporting the Coaltrans Americas
protests include Mountain Justice Summer (Southern Appalachia region:
Kentucky, Tennesee, Virginia, and West Virginia), Save It Now Glades
(Glades County, FL) Bridges Across Borders (Gainesville, FL), Yat
Kitischee Native Center (Naples, FL), Miami Sierra Club, Beehive
Collective (international), Jeaga Earth First! (South Florida), and Rising
Tide North America (continental network confronting the root causes of
climate change).

North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee