FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 23, 2009
CONTACT: Sludge Watch Collective 304-854-7372
COAL RIVER VALLEY, W.Va.—Activists are engaged in two separate civil disobedience actions this morning as part of the continuing campaign to end mountaintop removal. Nine people have locked themselves to mining equipment on a Patriot Coal-owned mountaintop removal mine on Kayford Mountain and another team of activists has spread a 20-by-60-foot banner on the surface of Massey Energy’s Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment near Pettus, W.Va. The activists are part of a coalition that includes Mountain Justice, Climate Ground Zero and concerned individuals.
At noon today, more protestors are expected to converge at the gate to the Brushy Fork dam with hundreds of pairs of shoes to represent the number of immediate deaths should the dam fail.
More details to follow. Video, still images and breaking news will be posted continually to www.mountainjustice.org.
