Welcome to Citizens Coal Council!

     During the 1960s and 70s environmental groups from across the country banned together and fought hard in demanding the establishment of environmental laws and regulations that would protect citizens and communities from the devastation caused by the mining of coal. A direct result of this effort was the passing of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) in 1977. Soon after the passing of SMCRA it became apparent that the federal and state environmental agencies were not enforcing the permitting, mining, and reclamation provisions effectively and the law alone was insufficient without an organized coalition to enforce it.

In 1987 on the 10^th anniversary of SMCRA, 200 coalfield citizens came together and determined that the environment and communities in the coalfields needed greater protection from the coal industry. Thus, in 1989 groups from Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Rocky Mountain Region, and the Navajo Nation, formed Citizens Coal Council (CCC), a coalition designed to galvanize the coalfield justice movement.

From its birth, the mission of CCC has been to build and strengthen coalitions among people in the coalfields, empowering them to defend existing environmental regulations, promote better environmental policies and to protect people, air, land, and water from the harm caused by the full coal cycle. From mining, processing, and burning of coal to the disposal of power plant waste each step of the cycle pollutes air, water, and land thereby stripping citizens and communities of their quality of life.