All language subtitles for Running.For.The.Mountains.2024.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

We'll extract every lump of coal. We
will extract the gas and oil. And West

Virginia will do her part. We've always
done our part.

The people of West Virginia and
Appalachia, we've become a sacrifice

We're dying here.

I don't think we expected to end up in
such a deep story.

Follow the dollar is all you have to do
in anything. Follow the dollar.

The word dropped like boulders. Senator
Joe Manchin suddenly threw President

Biden's Build Back Better agenda into
new turmoil.

So what does this mean for the fight
against climate change now then?

How much farther down here are they?

It works different in this state.

You have no grounds to arrest me, sir.

Yes, ma 'am. I sure do.

We set out to explore the influence of
big money in politics and its impact on

the environment.

We've been to Texas, we've been to
Colorado, we've been to a lot of places,

somehow West Virginia really captured
it.

That night spent over ten years.

documenting environmental issues and
politics in West Virginia.

It was a place that had long been
ignored by outside media, and the

that controlled the state liked it that
way.

West Virginia has been shaped by her
abundant resources and by the power

that extract them.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Who are you with, honey?

generations of people came to this state
and looked around and said, wow, look

what's here.

Coal, timber, natural gas.

They took all of that and left us with
nothing.

The people in this, in southern West
Virginia especially, has been robbed by

companies, yes.

I had to say that. Do you say it's still
going on?

It's still going on. Yeah, sure, it's
still going on. Sure.

What drew us there initially was Jesse
Johnson's campaign.

Jesse was running for governor of West
Virginia with the goal of eliminating

mountaintop removal mining.

Take 300 ,000 pounds of explosives every
day and devastate and destroy a

mountain. And then as they blow the
mountain apart to get to the coal seam.

They've put all the refuge into those
valleys.

They've covered up in Appalachia more
than 1 ,400 miles of freshwater streams.

Jesse was running a grassroots campaign
against two established politicians,

including the incumbent governor, Joe
Manchin. As Jesse said, better jobs.

This obscure person, Jesse Johnson, that
we met and followed all around West

Virginia, is the person who's had the
most electoral runs against Joe Manchin

anyone on the planet.

Greenish, brownish, yellowish, they're
nitrogen oxides.

Okay, over here, this yellow slime. Oh,
God, that is just really scary.

That is the death of poison.

Extractive industries that are like the
Roman hordes. They privatize their

profits. They socialize their debt.

They poison the wells. Then they leave
it for us to deal with.

Much of West Virginia's land is owned by
out -of -state and even foreign

entities that prioritize profit over
environmental protection and the health

communities.

Larry Gibson brought people from around
the world to witness mountaintop removal

firsthand.

The land that you're standing on right
now is worth $650 million to the coal

industry.

But I turned it into a land trust long
ago.

For me, it's Appalachia, a whole way of
life.

This here is what I call hell's gate.

The difference between life and death.

Over here, you can't live.

Over there, you can.

I actually stood one foot from his
property line on the precipice

to a devastating hole.

So the hills that he was used to walking
around, just like I'm used to walking

around, all of these hills around me,
was suddenly cratered.

Now, if we got 30 to 50 years of
mineable coal left in West Virginia,

imagine what it's going to look like 50
years from now.

You people got to help me stop this.

It's not my responsibility by myself.

Larry's words haunted us.

If we don't learn to live together as
brothers and sisters, we will perish.

Through our journey, we met Paul Corbett
Brown.

a filmmaker, photographer, an activist,
and he ran an organization, Keepers of

the Mountains.

For us who grew up here, mountains are
not just a pile of rocks that happen to

have trees coming out of them.

Mountains for us are living, breathing
entities.

They are ecosystems.

The one thing that happened in my life
that was the greatest gift was that I

traveled beyond the four walls of these
mountains and I saw what was happening

in other places, not just around the
country, but around the world.

It became very clear to me when I came
home what was happening right here in my

own backyard, what had been happening
under our noses the whole time.

From the air, it's all very clear.

Like, oh, wow, look, you can see this
operation. You can even see it draining

into this community.

We're being poisoned to death.

And the message is not getting out to
the rest of the nation.

It's not even getting out to us here in
West Virginia.

They left and abandoned the mine.

It's just been flowing bright red, very
high iron content coming out.

There's patches of white coming out,
which is aluminum.

It goes into dense run, and dense run
eventually flows into the Monongahela

River.

Eventually it heads north to Pittsburgh.

And this is happening all over West
Virginia. It's not just us.

Fossil fuels do still dominate our
energy mix, so we can't move completely

from them yet.

But the regulations that control the
safety of the extractive industries and

rapid transition to renewable energies
are often stalled by the influence of

money.

West Virginia politics is really more
akin to third world politics. It's

completely dominated by the extractive
industries that control the state.

There's total collusion between those
industries and government and media, and

the emphasis is never on the people and
their needs and their culture and their

heritage.

What is a governor's job?

It would be to try to foresee or
anticipate, to the extent that you can,

future and help lead your state into it.

in some fashion that preserves whatever
the best is and avoids whatever

calamities are down the road.

Joe Manchin, Earl Ray Tomlin, all of
them have said over and over and over,

will mine coal until there's not a lump
of coal left in the ground in West

Virginia.

And they mean it.

They will mine coal until there's
nothing left here.

Sure, coal has...

provided jobs.

I mean, they always talk about the
lavish feast that's been on our table as

result of the money from coal, but it's
always a smoke screen to detract from

the fact that they've poisoned the
vessel that we drink from.

There's one personality who's dominated
our state politics for most of the last

decade, and that's Joe Manchin, whose
phrase, open for business, literally

it all.

Everything was subordinated to business.

The state's beauty, the state's health,
and the richness and welfare of its

people.

The whole world is watching, Governor
Manchin, and the whole world will know

exactly what you are allowing to happen
in the state of West Virginia or what

you are willing to stop.

What we're trying to do is find balance.
You know that. I mean, it's tough to

find a balance in an extraction state.

Looking for those balances. We're the
mountain state.

Pardon me? We're the mountain state.
We're not the extraction state. We're

mountain state. But we're the
extraction.

We have been. We've been producing
energy for over 100 years.

Early in his career, Joe Manchin served
as Alex's West Virginia State Director,

and he served on Alex's National Board
of Directors.

Halleck is the conservative PAC that
writes and tests bills that are

to all the different states.

As the ambitious state senator climbed
the political ladder, he found himself

competing against a people's candidate
and coal miner's daughter, Charlotte

Pritt.

Well, I actually started because
children were hungry in the southern

field. And my dad said, if you really
want to do something, you need to run

office. And I said, Dad, I'm not a
politician. I'm a teacher. I teach how

write a letter, not get involved in
politics. That'll ruin my reputation.

It's very interesting how that all
played out years later.

But we won the first time out.

When Charlotte Pritt announced that she
was running for governor of this state,

it was like a ray of light, hope.

That was the first time, I think, in my
life that I'd ever seen a candidate run

for office that really wanted something
for the people of West Virginia.

I wanted to know what was happening with
the money that was affecting all these

issues that were important to me. So I
was branded as a troublemaker.

Joe Manchin and Charlotte Pritt were
both running to be the Democratic

for governor.

And Charlotte Pritt beat Joe Manchin.

In fact, she's the only person who's
ever beat Joe Manchin in a race.

Hello, I'm Charlotte Pritt, the
Democratic nominee for governor from the

beautiful state of West Virginia.

For 15 years, I taught high school in
West Virginia, and I love teaching

it gave me a chance to help our young
people dream and to help them turn their

dreams into reality.

President Clinton and Charlotte Pritt
now waving to the cameras. There's the

picture for the gubernatorial election
right there. That's right.

Instead of getting behind her and
saying, OK, I'll now support the

nominee, my colleague Charlotte Pritt,
Joe Manchin turned right around and set

up a PAC to elect the Republican
candidate.

They knew they had a different breed of
person there.

And that's very frightening to the
political system.

Behind Charlotte Pritt's campaign smile
is a liberal voting record she can't

hide from. In the state Senate,
Charlotte Pritt proposed teaching first

about condoms.

Surprised? You shouldn't be.

You know, I'm saying to someone, this is
so absurd. Certainly no one will

believe that. The Republicans just
saturated every media market on

with these horrible, untrue ads.

Wrong on the issues, wrong for West
Virginia.

Here in West Virginia, if you go for the
king and you don't kill the king, it's

a really bad situation to be in.

I'm the only person who's ever defeated
Joe Manchin in a race, and I was told

that he's not really happy about anybody
hiring you.

I found myself not being able to get a
job.

My first impression of Joe Manchin was
he was going to use the Southern charm.

He wanted to shake the hand. He wanted
to act like he was open and friendly.

The

press

in West Virginia has been very
deferential to Joe Manchin and to a lot

politicians there as a whole, because if
you're not, you get frozen out.

Would it be possible for us to ask a
couple of questions?

Thank you so much for coming. We
appreciate you being in West Virginia.

It's a pleasure to have you.

Thank you.

Jesse brought us to northern West
Virginia, where the gold rush for

was on.

Companies were rushing in, buying the
mineral rights, and radically

rural West Virginia into a toxic
industrial zone.

When they realized that they could get
away with it, and they could control the

legislature, and they could control the
governor's office, and they could

control the media in the state of West
Virginia, that's when this state became

sacrifice zone.

They came in. They played it very low
-key. They threw a lot of money around.

And before anybody realized what had
happened, all these property owners had

agreed to let them do this horizontal
fracking under their property.

And it's straight out of the coal
industry's playbook.

In the United States, there are some
states that have what's called a split

estate. in which landowners can sell out
the rights of the minerals on their

property.

Now, this is a kind of arcane law that
didn't take into account the more

destructive pursuits of mountaintop
removal or hydrocracking.

And now the extractive industries are
taking full advantage of that weakness

the state's laws.

It's like a hostage takeover situation.

Basically, they planned this two, three
years ago in advance.

And with the thought that when we hit,
we've got to go fast and furious because

there's a chance that they might try to
regulate us or get us under control.

I built my own house about 20 years ago,
and for this whole time I've lived

completely off of solar.

I have a rain catcher, water, composting
toilet.

All my electricity comes from the sun.

And use it to power the studio.

We live off the grid, so for us this was
a choice to live here, to live back in

the middle of this beautiful wilderness.

And we've always said it's so untouched
by time.

There's really not a lot of limiting
laws, but now it's almost like it's come

back to bite us because of those. We've
totally been devastated.

What one person does in their property
should not harm another person or their

property, and yet that's exactly what
happens when they drill these huge

Marcellus wells.

Our neighbor leased, and as a result,
what he has done has created an

zone for us.

to have to endure.

They really don't have any courtesy at
all. As you can see, they brought it

right up to our property line when they
could have gone anywhere further in that

direction.

With the fracking industry pumping over
500 different chemicals into the ground

that ends up potentially leaching into
our groundwater, and we don't even know

what those chemicals are because of the
Halliburton loophole.

which prohibit exposure of those
chemicals to the public.

When I bought the land and when most of
the other people bought the land, Cheney

hadn't changed the Clean Water Act yet,
right?

But now they have a right to destroy the
air and water. It's perfectly fine.

So that changes the whole game.

It's a giant flame like a torch.

That's getting all the impurities out of
the gas so that the gas runs nice and

clean so then they can go ahead and
start hooking it up to the pipe.

When you see what is allowed by the EPA,
it just scares you to death. You can't

imagine all those things going up into
our air.

The real cost of energy is the
communities that are devastated by the

extraction.

the water that's destroyed by the
extraction.

That's the real cost of energy.

And if we can think about those things
when we think about energy, then maybe

the very first thing we think about is
conservation.

EPA's mission is to protect human health
and the environment, but its ability to

respond rises or falls with different
administrations.

Now it's my honor to introduce the next
United States Senator from the great

state of West Virginia. It's Jesse
Johnson!

Everyone kept saying, you know, Jesse,
run for something that you can win and

come up from the grassroots.

So I was running for the House of
Delegates in West Virginia.

Suddenly Robert C. Byrd died, so I
jumped into the United States Senate

well.

We cannot survive without water, people.

And then we're allowing these
corporations to poison it before it ever

your tap.

I'm running against two Goliaths. Both
of them are millionaires.

Great to be here with the...

The current governor believes in global
warming, and he believes man generates

global warming.

I don't believe in that.

I told Joe on the way in, I can't figure
out why the Tea Party hadn't endorsed

him.

I mean, what do they want?

Listen to what they want. They want lots
of jobs, small government, low taxes,

and balanced budgets. I give you Exhibit
A.

We'll extract every lump of coal.

We will extract the gas and oil. And
West Virginia will do her part. We've

always done our part. And we will
continue to do our part.

I've had to get out in front of the
camera several times.

I'd have to suit up and put on a lot
more makeup than I'm used to, and I'd

a wig and get out there.

One of the reasons why, when you take a
look at the judge's race, even though

she's picked up a little bit, that race
is way too close to call you.

Actually, you must be getting pretty
good at it with all this practice.

Exactly. Three elections in six months.
We are pretty good at it. And, you know,

these were races, especially after the
death of Senator Burr, that a lot of

folks were going to start looking at,
and especially nationally. And that's

you all are here.

I'm here at the celebration for Joe
Manchin, the new senator from West

Joe Manchin's campaign, obviously he ran
directly against President Obama and

the liberal policies of Nancy Pelosi.

And, you know, interestingly, he will
have gotten himself elected by running

far away from his party as he could,
which would be oxymoronic were it not

Virginia.

I'm going to go spend a little time with
my family right now. For the kids, all

the kids are waiting for me.

Now I'm going to spend some time with
them, and then tomorrow we'll start.

When Joe Manchin was elected to the
Senate, he came to Washington, where he

quickly joined the Energy Committee.

From there, he was able to start helping
to craft U .S. energy policy.

Cold and liquid, natural gas.

As governor, there was no mistaking his
view of environmentalism.

I sued EPA, and I'll take dead aim at
the cap -and -trade bill.

He considered us radicals, extremists.

As soon as he goes to Washington, he
puts on this hat called moderate

Nationally. The media approaches Joe
Manchin as if he's a centrist. He's

talking about himself as a common sense
politician and reaching across the

aisle.

That's all smoke and mirrors.

Both as a state legislator and governor,
Joe Manchin cleared the regulatory path

for a coal -fired power plant in
Grantown that burns the most toxic form

coal,

gob, coal garbage.

Not only is it the most costly
electricity for West Virginians, it's

deadliest.

This senator owns a coal company, Ener
Systems Inc., the only provider of gob

the Grant Town power plant.

So he's got literally a cash register.

which happens to have a permit to burn
coal and generate electricity.

He makes money every ton of coal that
goes through that plant.

For those who are saying that we are
destroying the climate, the global

because of the coal that we're burning,
we burn it better and cleaner than most

any nation on earth.

It's a dramatic conflict of interest for
him to have anything to do with the

energy infrastructure in this country.

If you think it's junk, it will sell.

Right here's an old miner's coal bucket
right here.

It looks nice for decoration.

It does. That's an old coal miner's
dinner bucket, sure is.

It's got the bottle in it. It's got the
bottle in it, yeah.

How much?

Fifteen bucks.

Fifteen bucks? Fifteen bucks, yep. I
feel like I'm taping the Antiques

West Virginia.

Call it what you want to, but it's the
backbone of this country. It keeps the

lights a -burnin'. In New York City.

I've made a darn good living there.

You pay for it in the end, but that's
all you can do.

That's all they are here. No education.

You go in the coal mine.

And later on in life, you pay for it.
You can't breathe.

Well, cigarettes don't help either, but
why not? You can't breathe anyway.

You've got to enjoy something.

My family has a long history in these
mountains, and every man in the history

that family has mined coal here until
me.

My grandfather started working the coal
mines when he was 10 years old, and he

had one of the most dangerous jobs you
could have.

He had to throw a wooden pole into the
wheels to slow down a coal car if it got

running downhill too rapidly, because if
they didn't slow that coal car down, it

would kill the mule that was pulling it.

And many, many children lost their arm
and a leg getting tangled up in that

they were trying to stop that runaway
car.

At 10 years old, he went to work in a
coal mine.

Generation after generation, these
families have been coal miners.

It's a very hard job, and most of their
families have died young from black lung

and other diseases from the toxins of
coal.

And they fight for coal because it's
been there for them.

Whether or not their health is going to
be impacted, they know they're going to

put food on the table for the children.

We are a state and a people who are
honed and hardened for

sacrifice for this nation.

And it's not something that's been
necessarily good or productive for our

communities or even our families, but it
has been for the nation, and the nation

likes that.

West Virginia's been a heavy lifting
state. We've been an extraction state.

We mine the coal that makes the steel
that built the guns and factories that

basically defended us and give us the
great country we have.

It's always been about creating this
narrative that makes it a badge of honor

that a person's willing to go to their
death digging coal or willing to crawl

out of that black hole with a broken
back.

They go down into the mines for the same
reasons that our veterans took up arms

to protect this country.

It is not just a job, it's a calling,
it's a way of life.

Even an act of patriotism in the defense
of this great country.

You could say patriotism is pride in
America, but it's also pride that our

country can be a good, healthy place for
people to grow up.

A good place where people can have jobs.

A place where people aren't going to all
get sick and die of cancer. And a place

where we're proud when we look out at
this landscape, we say, whoa, this is

really beautiful.

I think it's time to rewrite the
narrative of what patriotism is and what

should be.

Is it patriotic to demand that people
leave their homes or have their wells

poisoned or their air poisoned or their
land poisoned or taken from them so

that... A company can profit?

These are the kind of questions that I
think we need to be asking about what is

patriotism and of whom is it demanded.

While equating digging coal with
patriotism, the state and media have

over the little -known brutal history of
the coal company's tyranny over workers

and their families.

The miners lived in such deplorable
conditions and basic slave labor camps.

By 1921, the outraged miners couldn't
take the abuse any longer.

There was a battle called the Battle of
Blair Mountain.

Between 10 ,000 and 21 ,000 miners armed
themselves.

The federal government was ultimately
called in, and the United States bombed

its own civilian population.

It's the second largest civil uprising
in the history of the United States of

America next to the Civil War.

We're going to be marching through coal
country.

And coal country, during the times of
the Blair Mountain March, was a very

bloody, violent place.

Bringing the unions to the coal mines, a
lot of people sacrificed their lives.

And the counties that were marching
through is where a lot of that happened.

Now, in those same counties, They are
predominantly strip mines, and they are

predominantly non -union.

What we're going to be facing is the
grandson or the great -grandson of

that probably died on that mountain to
bring in the union.

The people who actually fought in this
battle would roll over in their graves

they knew what y 'all was doing. I
guarantee it. They fought because they

mine this coal safely.

They fought to be unionized. They
fought, exactly.

Not to shut the coal companies down,
they fought because they could work

in this mountain. They fought and died
for your right to work a union job.

Yeah. To mine the coal that's in this
mountain.

Is this the union mine in this mountain,
sir?

No, it should be Union Mine.

It should be 100 % Union Mine. I think
they all should be Union Mine.

Go home, tree hopper!

You're doing a good job.

Thank you. Keep it up. Keep it up.

I'm here today to protest the march.

They need to go back to the rocks they
were under and stay there. Go to a

servile country where the people need
helpless water.

I'm not against dripping coal. I just
wish they'd leave the mountain alone and

leave it as a piece of West Virginia and
Logan County history.

And it can't be replaced once it wants
to be moved.

Union is the reason why we have a 40
-hour work week, a five -day week you

because of a union.

So look around.

See union members.

Any politician, I doubt you'll find any
here.

It's about damn time you give something
to us.

Everybody coming here together shows
everybody, all the way to Washington, D

.C., our intent.

We have nothing but kindness in our
hearts.

and determination in our soul.

The premier law enforcement of the state
of West Virginia was created from the

very beginning to stop unionization
efforts.

We often find ourselves facing the
courts, and without good legal

representation, it's easy for the courts
to just run right over us.

Bill DePaulo has been a check for that.
He has stood in that place time after

time for every single one of us and
protected us from the courts.

I felt that it was important to get
competent legal advice to these people

they were going to put their butts on
the line.

There's always a lot of intimidation,
surveillance that goes on with activists

within the coal field.

I don't know what you're doing. I don't
know if you have a right to a private

property to be doing this. Is it a
private property?

It belongs to the Stanley Heirs, not the
state police.

Where's Stanley at?

I don't know what your problem is, sir.

I don't have a problem with yours.

I'm wondering why you're invading
people's privacy.

I don't think I'm invading your privacy.
I think taking pictures of people's

vehicles without their permission on
private property is an invasion.

I don't think it is.

How are you, bud? Good.

We can do this all day long, man. I can
stand here like you can.

Well, I don't know why you... It don't
bother me a bit.

There's no reason to be rude. Just tell
us what you're doing here. How are you,

bud? Pretty good.

It works different in this state.

My experience has been that I've been
the first one arrested.

standing there with a camera and a press
pass at a protest and having the police

turn to me and arrest me first just to
get rid of the footage.

One of the ways that they can get away
with it is keeping everything under the

radar and within a bubble.

And so the thing that they want to see
least is for the media from outside the

region to be figuring out what is going
on.

I was traveling with a couple of
journalists on a public road through the

Kanawha State Forest where pro -coal
activists were gathering in support of

nearby coal mine.

How much farther down here are they?

I don't know.

About a mile.

At one point, the police directed us off
the road.

I saw one pro -coal person who seemed to
be in charge directing a younger

trooper to come over to me.

And I could tell because he looked
directly in my eyes.

What the trooper didn't know is that one
of the videographers in the back was

filming the whole thing.

I didn't know what was

going to happen, but I knew that
everything was in jeopardy at that

You don't have a right to the camera.
Get out of the vehicle.

You don't have a right to the camera.

Come here. Let's go.

Let's go. Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

Put your hands on the vehicle.

Put your hands on the vehicle. Do it
now. Put your camera up on the vehicle.

Put your hands on the vehicle.

Excuse me. Why are you arresting me?

Put your other hand behind your back. Do
it now. Excuse me. Why are you

arresting me?

Excuse me, why are you arresting me?

You have no grounds to arrest me, sir.

Yes, ma 'am. Sure do. I have no grounds
to arrest you. Come on back.

And I said, hey, I'm press.

The officer said, you're not press.

If you were press, we would have called
you.

The media are not the watchdog.

They cover the corporate candidate, the
corporate voice, and the corporate

message.

If it weren't for the fact that I had a
friend who was well -connected, then I

would have ended up staying in jail,
like most activists or journalists who

arrested in West Virginia.

Growing up on the farm probably was one
of the best things I could have ever

done to prepare myself for this kind of
a life.

Being tormented by the older kids and
field workers, I think, helped me grow a

little thicker skin to be able to deal
with the political environment that I've

thrown myself into.

I've been trying to push towards wind
and solar and hydro with tax credits for

alternative energy systems.

It is time that we hold industry
accountable in West Virginia and across

country.

And I have a little plan. Since the
Supreme Court has indicated that

corporations are people, I think it's
time that we implement a death penalty

corporations to cause harm to the
environment, citizens, and the health of

community.

After introducing 23 regulatory bills,
I've had death threats. I've had people

chasing me down the road and pick up
trucks, flashing their lights, honking

their horns, wanting me to pull over.

I was even offered a free pass from the
coal association if I would withdraw all

of the legislation that would hold them
accountable for polluting our streams

and rivers.

And they said, if you take this
legislation off the table, we'll make

you'll never have to...

worry about getting reelected again.

I'm like, sorry, but, you know, I have
principles and morals, and I give a

I carry a gun like most West Virginians,
but I carry it for protection, partly

because of the threats that I've had
from people in the oil and gas industry.

It's a really hardball arena to be in
politics, and that's why to be an

there, an electoral activist, is so
challenging.

Industry people will make it clear that
if you don't vote this way or you don't

go this way, there will be consequences.

I'm not going to worry about big pharma.
I'm not going to worry about big

energy. People tell me all the time,
you've got to be careful, man. They're

going to try to hurt you. They've
already tried to murder me once.

That just pissed me off.

I'm going to keep fighting for what I
believe is right.

We've got thousands and thousands of
miles of gas lines, and the Department

Environmental Protection has no idea
where all these gas lines are.

They're unregulated.

Joe Manchin's successor, Earl Ray
Tomlin, continued the policies of

corporate profits over public safety.

They passed the Marcellus Horizontal
Well Act, but before they did, the

took out a lot of the protections that
were there for surface owners, just took

them right out, because we're all write
-offs. We're all collateral damage, and

that's what it's all about.

When he called a special session, he
gutted everything in that bill that had

anything to do with surface owners and
the environment and gave everything to

industry.

And I was the only one that got up and
spoke against it on the floor.

I called him on the carpet.

He hasn't really spoken to me since.

In natural resources, coal, lumber, oil,
and gas, why are we the 49th as far as

the quality of life and education level
and poverty level and health?

The purpose of government is to protect
the public, to sustain

the common good.

My parents are the human representation
of what lies within those pages and

pages of health studies.

My mother, who's had cancer twice.

My father, who can barely walk, who has
black lung.

It's difficult for us.

A little bit further. There you go.

Yep.

People say, why don't you just leave? If
things are so bad, why don't you just

leave?

Because we can't.

I couldn't just leave and leave my
parents to their own demise.

My parents gave everything as young
adults to see to it that my brothers and

had a good life.

And they continue to support us and
nurture us as they can.

But at this point in their life, there's
no way that we could leave them.

There's no way we could neglect them in
their... deepest time of need.

You just go right over these mountains
that you see in the background, and it's

not that far until you're in Washington,
D .C., the heartbeat of our democracy,

of our government.

No person, no corporation has the right
to profit at the expense of our lives.

And so we as West Virginia citizens went
to Washington to address it directly.

Are we just consumers or are we
citizens?

Are we going to make more garbage or are
we going to make amends? Are you part

of the solution or are you part of the
cause?

Don't fight, are you on now? We die, are
you gone now? Is there any more capital

in today?

Did it only take a minute?

Okay, very good. Have a seat.

We have 4 ,000 people a year dying from
exposure to coal toxins.

And for our representatives to deny the
existence of 24 peer -reviewed

scientific studies is unacceptable.

So this is for her. Okay.

She can no longer deny that she's had
these studies because here they are

printed out, every single one of them.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for calling Senator Joe
Manchin's office. Could you please hold?

Hi, Mr. Manchin. Do you want to speak to
his legislative assistant?

We're now at 24 peer -reviewed
scientific studies.

They've been published in reputable
journals, and it's time that our

representatives take this seriously.

These are people in our communities.

And they mean something to us. I
understand.

So I do help, but this primarily falls
under our energy portfolio.

So let me go see if I can find somebody
that can better discuss this. But

doesn't it fall under your help? Sure,
it does. It does. But the fact of the

matter is that, you know, it fans over
two issues.

Energy, of course. So you should both be
at the table. Sure. I understand. But

let me go grab somebody else.

Perfect.

Absolutely.

I have some here for Mr. McKinley. Okay.

This is as a result of a discussion I
had with him at the West Virginia Coal

Symposium a few months ago.

And when I asked him about his response
to the 24 peer -reviewed scientific

studies showing that an estimated 4 ,000
people die every year as a result of

exposure to coal toxins.

Mr. McKinley looked me straight in the
eye and said he'd never seen these

reports, any of them, to which I
promised I would bring them to him.

No one

has a right to profit at the expense of
someone else's life.

rely upon that water to sustain life and
quality of life, which includes their

health and well -being.

If you read the West Virginia
Constitution, you'll find out that the

belongs to all West Virginians, not the
coal companies. Okay.

Very good. Thanks for dropping this off.
I would like for you to sign that you

received it and that you promised to
give this to Mr. McKinley.

And just for the record, 100 % of my
electricity comes from the sun.

So while I don't think we can stop coal
overnight, It's definitely way past time

to start a transition.

And there are other ways that we can
create jobs without poisoning our

Thank you. Happy West Virginia Day. Yes,
you too. Thank you. Bye -bye. Great.

I don't care how it's produced, it's
more important than water.

Well, and this is the problem. See,
they've been allowed to frame this

discussion for far too long, and now
it's our turn to frame it.

The next 150 years belong to us.

After the legislative session came on
the news that, you know, the chemical

spill had happened like eight hours
earlier.

I think a chemical spill in Kanawha
County has people wondering what's in

air and what could be in your water.

I don't think my water is moving.

My daughter and I are having nightmares
over there.

It leaked from a 48 ,000 -gallon tank at
Freedom Industries' chemical storage

facility on the Elk River.

People are buying cases of liquid,
anything they can get their hands on,

The leaked product is 4
-methylcyclohexane, methanol. It's used

preparing coal.

If you're sick from this, your symptoms
will include nonstop vomiting.

You can smell the licorice scent in the
air.

This is Chemical Valley, and you always
have a smell from one of the chemical

plants downriver.

I think people will just become numb.

to the exposure of the chemicals within
the Charlton area.

Do not drink it, do not cook with it, do
not wash clothes in it, do not take a

bath in it.

I had just cooked in it, and then I got
into a bathtub full of that water.

A toxic chemical soup.

And then, while I was in the tub,
suddenly finding out... that the

just declared the water unsafe.

I am one of more than 300 ,000 guinea
pigs.

I'm a human experiment.

Oh, yeah.

I think we could get in there and get a
sample before they could do anything

about it.

We've been closed, what, five, six days
now?

And it's killing us, you know? Yeah.

The Chemical Safety Board estimated over
10 ,000 gallons of MCHM, a chemical

used to wash coal, had leaked into the
Elk River.

From there, it flowed into the Kanawha
River, which runs through the heart of

the state capital.

Would it be an accurate statement to say
that there was a systemic problem with

the maintenance and management of the
chemical tanks in the Kanawha Valley,

maybe across West Virginia in general?

That is a fair statement, but I wouldn't
assign it just to West Virginia or the

Kanawha Valley.

Mother Kwanake, we come here to honor
you today.

We come from the four directions, Mother
Kwanake.

We apologize for having let such a
terrible thing poison you today,

We saw a bunch of water.

Water!

Out of the spigot, there's a bell, fresh
and clean without a smell.

For 100 years, the chemical industry has
had to use vast amounts of that water,

and they love to get rid of all
regulations.

Well,

if your water starts smelling funny,
don't be alarmed, that's just the smell

money.

The water that's born here in the
mountains of Appalachia is the same

flows into the Mississippi and all the
way to the Gulf of Mexico.

That's a huge number of people whose
lives are affected.

Freedom Industries declared bankruptcy
within a week of the incident.

It's a common tactic polluting
industries use to avoid liability for

negligence. And the executives
responsible faced minimal charges.

Gary Southern was found guilty. He got
in a slap on the wrist for poisoning the

water of 300 ,000 people.

If that had been done by terrorists,
we'd have a drone out there looking for

and blasting him off the face of the
planet.

Under mounting public pressure, West
Virginia's delegates readily passed a

that would enforce more regulation.

That legislation was overturned when a
new slate of industry -funded candidates

unseated the left of the delegates who
had pushed for more protections,

including Mike Manypenny.

Until we get rid of big money in
politics, we're not going to change

because they'll fund a campaign against
somebody.

I mean, the Coal Association put a lot
of money in the left election to unseat

me. Each of those mailers cost about $10
,000 apiece.

Mike Manypenny, bad for West Virginia.

Mike Manypenny is hurting West
Virginia's job growth.

I'm sure that Mike Manypenny was
targeted because of his outspoken nature

regarding the health and the well -being
of all people in this state.

In 1886, the Supreme Court gave
personhood rights to corporations, and

decision opened a floodgate of decisions
by the Supreme Court, ultimately

leading to something called Citizens
United.

Special interests, including polluting
industries, could dump tons of money

political campaigns anonymously, giving
them outsized influence.

In a world of absurdly expensive
elections, campaign finance limits and

are essential to help maintain a true
democracy.

You've got 150 years worth.

of entrenched power and money and
newspapers and television stations and

lobbyists on one side all arm in arm.
And it makes the work we're doing

incredibly hard. When you're running a
grassroots campaign, it's nearly

impossible to get that outreach to
everybody you need.

to move away from coal and all the other
fossil fuels but I don't want to move

away from the people who did the best
they could to produce the energy that we

relied on West Virginia Coal Association

just endorsed me

Donald Trump showed up and put on a
miner's hat and acted like he was

coal. And so it triggers that whole
response that we as West Virginians

Oh, he's here to help us. He's here to
give us a job again.

Thank you, everybody.

That is great.

My hair look okay?

When Earl Ray Tomlin turned out in 2016,
the race was on to fill the governor's

seat.

Colbert and Jim Justice couldn't snag
the Republican Party nomination, so he

his cap on running for governor as a
Democrat.

Despite evading millions in fines and
taxes, he was endorsed by West

Democratic Party leadership.

And it is 7 o 'clock on the East Coast,
which means polls have just closed in

half a dozen states.

We won!

In the 14th and 12th District, it is
going to be, in all likelihood,

a pickup for the Republicans.

They were completely sure they were
coming to this event to celebrate

Clinton becoming the first female
president.

Victory sent shockwaves throughout the
country and the world, pushing the

into new levels of division.

I am continuing to keep my promise to
the American people to get rid of

regulations that do nothing, absolutely
nothing.

President Trump, yes, representing West
Virginia as the senator and Senator

Manchin and I, and we have our
congressional delegation here.

Congressman Jenkins, Congressman
McKinley, and Congressman Mooney, this

lifeline to us.

Now they could dump their mining waste.
That's not how they put it, but that's

what the law said.

And so we could see that kind of
politics being exported.

I can't help you anymore being a
Democrat governor.

So tomorrow...

I will be changing my registration to
Republican.

Governor Justice, he ends up switching
back to the Republican Party and kissing

up to his fellow billionaire.

44 of West Virginia's 55 counties under
a state of emergency.

At a time when the world was calling for
leaders to address climate change, the

Trump administration leaned hard in the
other direction. Global warming and a

lot of it's a hoax. It's a hoax.

President Trump killed environmental
regulations and appointed anti

industry -friendly judges to the federal
bench and the Supreme Court.

Constitution of the United States.

against all enemies, foreign and
domestic.

States like West Virginia continue to
sue the EPA to strip its ability to set

pollution levels.

Meanwhile, millions of students around
the world held school strikes calling

expedited climate action.

School kids led the charge, walking out
of class, demanding world leaders take

action to prevent further global warming
and climate change.

After the 2020 election and a chaotic
aftermath, Joe Biden took office with

ambitious plans to rebuild the economy
and to restore the United States as a

leader in fighting climate change.

We're standing at an inflection point in
world history.

We have the ability to invest in
ourselves and build an equitable, clean

future, and in the process, create
millions of good -paying jobs and

opportunities around the world.

My Build Back Better framework will make
historic investments in clean energy.

So let this be the moment that we answer
history's call.

God bless you all, and may God save the
planet. Thank you.

But not everyone was rushing towards a
new energy future with open arms.

After the November election in 2020, Joe
Manchin could now tip the balance.

And he did, willfully.

Recognizing Manchin's pivotal position,
President Biden incentivized the senator

in several ways, including appointing
Manchin's wife to be co -chair of the

Appalachian Regional Commission.

This appointment allows Manchin's family
to have significant ongoing influence

over the direction of billions of
federal dollars.

And still it wasn't enough.

On Fox News Sunday, Senator Joe Manchin
suddenly threw President Biden's Build

Back Better agenda into new turmoil.

So when Manchin sabotages climate
change, this is for future generations

going on right now.

Just when everyone thought that Build
Back Better was dead, Senators Manchin

Schumer emerged with a revised plan with
a new name, the Inflation Reduction

Act.

The IRA enabled Senator Manchin to draft
his own version of a climate bill.

And while it gave the Biden
administration its centerpiece

included huge giveaways to the fossil
fuel industry.

And it ensured that President Biden and
future administrations must approve as

many lease sales for oil and gas as for
wind and solar.

And the deal had another string
attached.

It required expediting one of his major
donors' projects, the Mountain Valley

Pipeline.

The day I retired was the day I found
out about the Mountain Valley Pipeline

crossing my property.

It's really hard to believe that someone
who's in it for profit can

destroy a man's dream, something I
worked for my whole life.

I mean, property rights are one of the
foundations of this country. I just

believe that they're just going to come
in here and use their definition of

eminent domain.

The MVP, a natural gas pipeline built to
transport fracked gas from northern

West Virginia to southern Virginia.

had been repeatedly blocked in court for
hundreds of environmental and safety

violations.

Did that explode?

We have plenty of examples of pipelines
that have blown up and malfunctioned.

And they intend to run this across the
high parts and then under rivers. And

then as you get further south into
Monroe County, that's all karst. All of

springs, the sinkholes.

the caves that are down there, and
they're going to put a pipe there and

that this is not going to at some point
shift.

Indigenous and environmental communities
rush to D .C. to lobby lawmakers and

call out Senators Manchin and Schumer's
backdoor agreement.

No dirty deal!

No dirty deal!

No dirty deal!

Our communities, our movement, and our
planet is in the fight for its life.

And our communities and our people are
not for sale.

So we will stand against any attempt to
fast -track projects that make this

crisis worse, including the Mountain
Valley Pipeline.

We are standing up, and we are going to
fight.

And we are with you, and we are not
going to end until we have renewable

and we have a safe future for our kids.

Thank you.

With massive national pushback, the
scheme to revive the Mountain Valley

Pipeline project was rejected again.

But Senator Manchin was determined to
push it through.

If they don't change, then I would vote
to repeal my own bill. You will never

guess which pet project made its way to
the debt ceiling bill. It's been in

court over and over again and lost
because it's not safe. And yet, Joe

was able to attach that to the debt
ceiling.

As a result of our nation refusing to
default on our national debt, we had to

let them push the MVP through.

Eliminating all administrative and
judicial review and make it to be on the

of the debt ceiling deal? I mean, give
me a break.

With its path cleared at the federal
level, Governor Jim Justice quickly

approved state permits.

Construction immediately resumed.

further entrenching West Virginia as a
sacrifice zone.

We saw West Virginia really as a
cautionary tale for when dark money

politics. When you don't have protection
or regulation or a government that's

really trying to protect the
environment, things can go south very

Today, the Supreme Court's conservative
majority upended the way our federal

government functions by overturning the
40 -year -old landmark decision Chevron

v. NRDC.

I will not be running for reelection to
the United States Senate.

We don't have the luxury of allowing
these people to destroy the planet.

You just got to make sure they're not an
office where they can do damage.

We are all in this together and we all
have one person, one vote. We're all

equal in that sense.

What is your name? Jesse Johnson.

We just tell him who we voted for and
lost our vote.

And here we're meeting in person.

And when you bring money in to spoil
that system, it's a formula for

And that's what we see at work today.
And it may literally become the end of

this great experiment.

And I intend to do everything that I can
to make sure that it's not.

Passing campaign finance reform and
disclosure laws nationally are critical.

to combat the outsized power of dark
money affecting our elections and energy

policies. What would it look like if the
people of West Virginia held governing

power, and what would it take to get
there?

Our job is to build the political
machine that can be there for the next

decades.

If West Virginia was strong enough to
fuel the Industrial Revolution,

West Virginia is strong enough to lead
the Green Revolution.

We need to find that balance where we
can have jobs and a clean and healthy

environment to live in.

Protecting our water is the most
important thing we can do. It trumps

else. The trials that Jesse, Mike
Minipin, and Charlotte, and so many

have gone through who are building
blocks.

They didn't expect that their story
could get told from within.

They knew they needed to get it out.

And they looked at Julie and me as a
potential place to tell their story.

It's not enough on a spiritual level
just to be silent.

I think those of us who know what there
is to lose, and we know that it's our

very soul, our very spirit, because you
can't do things to the earth and other

people. You can't...

Just dismiss them without dismissing
part of your very soul.

Any one of these threads can be

singled out and very easily broken,
can't they?

But what happens when they're all one?

What happens when every thread offers
its strength?

Anybody want to have a go at this? You
think you can break it?

Not going to happen.

This is...

where we are, a part of something
beautiful and magical and sacred. And

one of our energies matters.

West Virginia, my home.

Blue Ridge Motel, so long.

How has it been to be part of a
documentary film with people coming out

filming you throughout these runs?

Well, you're a lot like me because I can
become a pain in the ass without even

having to try. It just comes naturally.

But your runoff is not fit for me to
drain.

Oh, this green mountain won't lay your
body down.