Weekly Justice Highlights

Protecting Water: Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency office from Region 3 announced its recommendation to veto the permit for the controversial Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, WV. While the decision is not yet final, individuals are urged to call U.S. Senators 1.202.224.3121) asking them to co-sponsor the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696) to end valley fills and protect our water.

Nuclear Weapons: In keeping with the corporate statement on nuclear weapons, individuals are invited to write President Obama asking him to take a bold step forward by working with Russian President Medvedev to de-alert U.S. and Russia nuclear arsenals and declare a policy of No First Use.

U.S. citizens are invited to tell the World Bank, IMF and the Asian Development Bank that Pakistan needs debt cancellation now as Pakistanis continue to suffer from the flooding that occurred in their country.

Federal unemployment insurance program will expire on November 30 for nearly 8 million works and their families. Economists rank unemployment benefits among the most effective ways to boost the economy, and the U.S. Census Bureau data reports that 3.3 million more people would have fallen below the poverty line in 2009 without unemployment benefits. Individuals are asked to urge Congress to reauthorize and continue the federal jobless benefit programs when they return November 15 at

On January 9, 2011 South Sudan will vote on independence and there is much concern about a return to war and violence as elections approaches. Save Darfur asks the U.S. Administration for specific responses that individuals may reinforce in a letter to President Obama (click on Ticking Time Bomb)

Individuals are invited to call the Capitol and urge U.S. Representatives to sign on to Representative Quigley’s letter calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt enforceable federal safeguards to protect communities from coal ash. Americans across the country are faced with increased risk of cancer, learning disabilities, birth defects and other illnesses as a result of exposure to heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury that seeps into water.

Recently, a coalition of groups published Charting New Waters: A Call to Action to Address U.S. Freshwater Challenges. The report is a culmination of an intensive collaboration effort that began in 2008. The report is located at

Louisville: The annual trip to the School of Americas is being organized by KITLAC. The bus(es) will leave Louisville at 5 a.m. on November 20 from the Crowne Plaza Hotel (830 Phillips Lane) in Louisville and return late Sunday evening (hopefully by 11p.m. or midnight). Cost for bus is $75.00. Hotel accommodations can also be made at an additional cost by KITLAC. For more information and registration, contact Mary Ann Lambert at 502.425.3844 or malambert22@bellsouth.net Deadline for registration is October 29, 2010

Louisville: The 4th Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture featuring a presentation by Bernice Johnson Reagon will speak on The Civil Rights Movement and Students: Creating a Vital, Transformative Change in the Struggle for American Freedom on November 5 at 6 p.m. at Comstock Hall (U of L School of Music)