The Orion Grassroots Network nominated one of its own for the Goldman Environmental Prize, Maria Gunnoe, and she was just named as one of six winners worldwide. Maria was honored for her courageous stand against mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR). She is an organizer for Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition in West Virginia, a long-time member group and one that’s been instrumental in this increasingly national debate. Orion included Maria in our January-February 2006 article on MTR, “Moving Mountains,” by Erik Reece. This ‘environmental Nobel’ for Maria is a big signal that the pressure to end MTR is ramping up even higher.

OGN coordinator Erik Hoffner is in Washington this week for the formal Goldman Environmental Prize announcement.