Dear folks,
I would like to invite you to come down to the General Sessions Court in the Kingston Courthouse on Monday Oct 19, 2009 at 9AM. All the charges against me are supposed to be dropped but I wouldn't put it past TVA to try and disrupt my life a little more. thanks, matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST SET TO BE CLEARED OF CHARGES IN ROANE COUNTY COURT FOLLOWING UNJUST ARREST BY TVA POLICE AT COAL ASH DISASTER SITE

Kingston, Tenn., Monday October 19, 9AM – United Mountain Defense volunteer, Matt Landon Jones will appear in the Kingston Courthouse following a six month restriction order following his unjust arrest at the coal ash disaster site of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on March 5, 2009. Matt Landon Jones has been restricted from communicating with any TVA employees engaged in clean up and recovery efforts at the disaster site and any non-TVA workers involved in the cleanup. He was also restricted from trespassing on any TVA property or traveling on or within the 750 foot elevation of the Emory, Clinch, and Tennessee Rivers which directly impacted his water monitoring efforts on these rivers.

Matt Landon Jones says, “Even though I expect all of the charges to be dropped and my name to be cleared TVA will never be able to repair the emotional stress they have caused both me and the residents of Roane County.” Even with all charges dropped he will still have to pay at least $700 in court fees.

On Mar. 5, 2009 Matt Landon Jones was arrested by TVA police in Roane County Tenn., where the TVA coal ash disaster occurred on Dec. 22, 2008. At the time of his arrest, Matt Landon Jones was driving 65-year-old Eva Hewitt to her home on Swan Pond Road after a community meeting. After arriving at her home, TVA police came onto her property to arrest Matt Landon Jones. The officer warned him that he drove through a TVA roadblock without a proper pass; his red residential pass was confiscated earlier that week. Matt Landon Jones contends that the roadblock was unstaffed at the time and illegally set up by TVA. The officer told Matt Landon Jones that a resident needed to be in the vehicle with him when he drove on the public road. Once Hewitt exited the vehicle and explained that she had just been escorted home, as partial blindness prevents her from driving, the officer arrested Matt Landon Jones for trespassing with a motor vehicle. He was held on $3,000 bail in the Roane County jail and transferred to Bradley County Jail and was incarcerated for 36 hours. He is currently charged with entering a restricted area, trespass in a motor vehicle, and disobeying a traffic control device. The TVA officer recognized Matt Landon Jones from an incident earlier in the week, which is described below.

Matt Landon Jones stated, "The TVA police repeatedly abused the rights of United Mountain Defense volunteers and this fact will be revealed just as TVA’s lack of safety was exposed by the Office of Inspector General report. UMD volunteers were delivering drinking water, gathering water and air samples and working with local community residents and we were constantly harassed by the TVA police as though we were criminals.”

On March 23, 2009 TVA police confiscated and retained part of UMD’s air monitoring equipment for two weeks and 4 days in an effort to further disrupt the air monitoring program.

On Tuesday, Mar. 3, 2009, UMD volunteers Matt Landon Jones and Tom Swinford, were detained while gathering independent air quality samples in Roane County, Tenn. The air monitoring program was initiated in response to local resident's complaints of worsening respiratory problems since the disaster and UMD's discovery that TVA's air testing was inadequate.

UMD volunteers found a testing location downwind of the spill and received permission from the property residents to assemble their monitoring equipment. Almost immediately, TVA and Roane County police were on the scene hassling UMD members. The police questioned residents and the property owners about UMD's use of their land, reviewed the lease agreement and questioned all of the UMD volunteers. The police took note of the volunteer's identification and seized the camera that filmed the entire event. After detaining the two UMD volunteers for several hours, the TVA police ordered the removal of the air monitoring station.

Matt Landon Jones stated, “Numerous reports have exposed flaws in TVA’s water monitoring program, worker safety program and coal ash containment programs and I will work to expose the flaws in TVA’s air monitoring program which may be endangering the health of Roane County residents.”

The Environmental Protection Agency has a chance to play a role in helping provide the parallel air monitoring that TVA denied to independent air monitors and United Mountain Defense requests that they fulfill this obligation.

“United Mountain Defense will continue to gather air quality samples in an effort to provide unbiased data to the residents of Roane County,” said Matt Landon Jones.

There will be a press conference outside of the Kingston Courthouse following Matt Landon Jones court case.

###

About United Mountain Defense

United Mountain Defense (UMD) is a Knoxville based non-profit dedicated to protecting Tennessee's watersheds, air, mountains and communities. We have many years of experience working on issues relating to surface mining and its impacts on communities. A primary focus of UMD has been in scientific data collection, community organizing, and data collection and analysis from federal and state agencies. (link...)