Momenta is a documentary film project about proposed coal exports in the Pacific Northwest and the potential for a clean energy future.

A Pacific Northwest coal project is threatening the global environment on a scale greater than the Keystone Pipeline, but most people have never heard of it.Momenta shares the story of the people living along the coal export trail and the project’s global environmental implications.

Please support this important effort.

Project Goals:

1. Development of Momenta, a documentary film focused on the coal export controversy and possible solutions in the Pacific Northwest. The film will be shot and produced this summer for release in September, 2013.

The issue:  Right now, in America’s Pacific Northwest, communities are taking part in a historical opposition to Big Coal and its relentless pursuit of profits. The American coal industry plans to extract billions of tons of coal from the Powder River Basin and ship it to rapidly expanding Asian markets via ports in Washington and Oregon.

No one is telling this story.

We hope to change that.

Each day over fifty mile-and-a-half-long trains, laden with Powder River coal, will travel from Wyoming and Montana through hundreds of small towns to ports in the Pacific Northwest, leaving arsenic and mercury laden coal dust in their wake. The near-constant stream of escaping coal dust imposes toxic environmental pollutants and inestimable health risks to communities through which the trains travel.  And that’s not even the worst of it…

Opening a gateway to burgeoning coal markets in Asia would all but ensure that billions of tons of coal found in the Powder River Basin deposit would find it’s way to Asia’s coal-burning power plants and eventually into our atmosphere.  The amount of carbon emissions produced by the burning of this coal deposit alone would undoubtedly result in cataclysmic and irreversible impacts on global climate.

That coal has to stay in the ground. You can’t make the math of climate change work if you get the huge coal deposits of the Powder River Basin out and pour them into the atmosphere.  -Bill McKibben, world-renowned author, scholar and environmentalist

By supporting this project, you join our efforts to tell an important story that might otherwise go untold.

Our nation, culture and planet are at a tipping point. Please support this project and help tip the scales towards a sustainable, clean energy future.

Featured Trailer Interviewees in order of appearance:

Ed Gulick - Northern Plains Resource Council, Billings, MT

Otto Braided Hair - Northern Cheyenne Tribal Member, MT

Vanessa Braided Hair - Northern Cheyenne Tribal Member, MT

Beth Doglio - ‘Power Past Coal’ Campaign Director, WA

Jason Shogren - Environmental Economist, Professor, University of Wyoming, member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

Jeremy Jones - Professional Snowboarder, Founder of Protect Our Winters

Bill McKibben - Environmentalist, Scholar, Author, Founder of 350.org

LJ Turner - Cattle Rancher, Wright, WY

For more information about the film project or to become involved, followMomenta Project on Facebook or visit: www.momentaproject.com

MOMENTA Team:

Jeremy Jones, Producer. Professional snowboarder, President/Founder of Protect Our Winters and CEO, Jones Snowboards.

Andy Miller, Co-Director, cinematographer, editor. Co-founder, Plus M Productions.

Robin Moore, Co-Director, cinematographer, composer.  Co-founder, Plus M Productions

Chris Steinkamp, Producer. Executive Director, Protect Our Winters

Eric Wallis, Coordinating Producer. Producer, Plus M Productions, Global Sales Manager, Airblaster

Jarratt Moody, Art Director, Motion Graphics.  Founder, Heath Hen Films (Director,The First 70)

Matt Chappell, Designer/ Developer. Creative Director, Orbital Lab Design

Blain Johnson, Media Relations Coordinator.

Jamie Oliveira, Production Assistant, Marketing Coordinator. PA, Plus M Productions

Cameron Colbeck, Production Assistant. PA, Plus M Productions

Andy, Eric and Robin deep in coal country during the initial research trip.

This film project is a collaboration between Protect Our Winters and Plus M Productions.

Plus M Productions is an award-winning San Francisco based film production company that specializes in social-purpose documentary films (The First 70, How The Kids Saved The Parks, Share The Pie, Built To Ride). They collaborate with a variety of Non-profit organizations and Foundations to tell stories that create positive change in the world.

Protect Our Winters. Founded in 2007 by pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones, Protect Our Winters is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and mobilize the winter sports community to lead the fight against climate change. To find out more about Protect Our Winters, please visit us at www.protectourwinters.org

What is the money going towards?

So far, we have only shot 10% of the film. Reaching our funding goal will allow us to shoot the remainder of the film and complete post-production. Funding will be put towards: production, editing, original music score, sound design, color correction, narration, and graphic design/animation.

Risks and challenges

Because the story is constantly evolving, our primary challenge is to stay up to date with any and all changes taking place in regards to coal expansion in the Pacific northwest. As events unfold, the film will evolve to ultimately present a timely and honest portrayal of the issues.