April 29, 2009 · For the second time in five years, a woman from southern West Virginia has won what’s been called the Nobel Prize of environmentalism -- the Goldman Award.
Each year, only one winner from each continent wins the prize.
In 2003, it was Judy Bonds of Coal River Mountain Watch. Now, it’s a woman that lives just a few miles away, Maria Gunnoe of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
Last week, Gunnoe traveled to San Francisco to accept the Goldman Environmental Prize. Tuesday, she ended a week of travel with a press conference in Charleston, followed by a tour of mountaintop removal sites.
She says she still can’t believe she won.
"I thought it was prank phone call," she said.
Gunnoe has lived in southern West Virginia her entire life. Her home is on land that’s been in her family for 5 generations.
"In 2000, a mountaintop removal site moved into my backyard," she said.
Since then, Gunnoe says she deals with dusty air, dirty water, and floods.
"In 2003 there was a major washout," she said. "The coal company ponds on the mine site failed and when they did they washed our property away. This was originally my grandfather's property."
When this happened, Gunnoe says she couldn’t sit by and do nothing. So she became a leader in the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. She says she is standing up for West Virginia and what she believes in and the award legitimizes her efforts.
"It says that what we are doing is the right thing," she said.
Cross Cherry Pond Mountain and travel 16 air miles and you’ll find Judy Bonds, but this land isn’t the only thing that connects the two women.
"All the women here have to be tough," Gunnoe said.
"Maria and I are tenacious people," Bonds said. "We can’t back down."
Bonds was the winner of the same award in 2003.
"It speaks volumes about the devastation that we are dealing with here in southern West Viriginia," Bonds said.
Both women feel that state officials have turned their backs on southern West Virginia and the people who live near mountaintop removal sites.
"The fact that the officials in West Virginia are completely ignoring it while the rest of the world is going 'My goodness look what they're doing.' I think that speaks volumes about our government."
After a press conference, the two organizations led the media on a sort of victory lap. They went to Cameo in Boone County, a mountaintop removal site in hopes to convey the work they think still needs to be done.
"My goal is to make my home livable again," she said.
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