The tree sitters endured their first night and day of rain today as they continue to prevent blasting in that area of the mine site for a fourth day. Following the Thursday evening arrest and jailing of tree sit ground support Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers, Massey security adopted positions at the edge of the mined area and at the base of the trees.  The tree sitters said in a message “We’ve stayed dry through the rain but security has been kicked up a notch & so has the harassment! Their plan is to wait us out.”

As of Friday evening, it is reported that between 10 and 12 Massey security guards have taken up posts near the tree sit.  

Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers were bailed out of Southern Regional Jail late Friday morning. They both face charges of trespassing, with a maximum fine of $500 and/or six months in jail. No court dates have been set. Contrary to prior information, Ellis and Beavers were not asked to leave their positions when police arrested them this second time.

In a radio interview on MetroNews, Mike Roselle of Climate Ground Zero said the tree sitters have supplies for ten days. Despite harassment and rain, the tree sitters maintain that they will not descend from the trees willingly unless Massey ceases operations above Pettry Bottom, pays the full cost of health care and home repair to Pettry Bottom residents, and the Federal Office of Surface Mining begins the full reclamation of the Edwight mountaintop removal site. Roselle’s interview can be listened to here.

Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, told his side of the story in an interview with Metro News. The interview, in which he accuses the tree sitters of childish behavior and claims that mountaintop removal is necessary to for Americans to maintain a high standard of living, can be listened to here. Interestingly, areas with similarly rugged terrain but no coal mining have a much higher standard of living than areas with coal mining. When comparing county coal production in West Virginia it’s evident that the more coal produced, the lower the median income. Life spans are shorter here and cancer is more common than elsewhere in the U.S.

In other news, it seems the tree sit’s impact may be spreading to the financial sector. Two articles, today, reported on an increase of put trading on Massey Energy stock, indicating a growing pessimism among commodity investors. This came as Massey shares dropped 4% on Thursday and news of the tree sit spread to major news publications in the US and Canada.

The Edwight mountaintop removal tree sit passed the three-day mark today. Massey has not blasted on the ridge above Pettry Bottom since Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks took up their positions 80 feet above the ground in close proximity to a spot Massey had slated for blasting.

Mine security asked support crew Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers to leave the area at approximately 5:30 p.m. They refused and state police arrested them at 7:30 p.m.  On the tree sit’s first day, Tuesday, state trooper Sergeant Smith arrested both women, cited them for trespassing and released them. Later that afternoon, Ellis and Beavers reentered the Edwight mine at the request of state police to serve as a liaison to the tree sitters.

On that day, Beavers said, “I am on this mountain because I believe that every single West Virginian who is proud of being from ‘Almost Heaven’ should take a stand against mountaintop removal.  I am here because DEP officials have failed to stop the blasting.  I am putting my body and reputation on the line to do their job and stop the blasting.  I served in our military so that we can all live in a country that does not exploit and destroy its land and people.”

Beavers graduated from Hurricane High School in June of 2000 and started basic training at Fort Jackson, SC in August of that year. During her years of service, she was deployed in Iraq and Turkey. She works with the Student Environmental Action Coalition, a student-run organization working for environmental sustainability and social justice in the schools across the state.

Following their arrest, Climate Ground Zero attempted to find Ellis’ and Beavers’ whereabouts but were rebuffed by state police, who claimed that to divulge that information would be a violation of the arrestees’ privacy. Magistrate Jones of Raleigh County set their bonds at $1,000 each at 9 p.m. and the Southern Regional Jail reported their incarceration at 10:45 p.m.

Tree sitters reported that Massey employees started flashing strobe-like lights at them and blasting air and truck horns after dark fell. Earlier in the day, the tree sitters reported that mine security had been polite, although some occasionally kicked rocks down the berm at Beavers and Ellis. In a message from the tree sitters shortly after 11:00 p.m., they said “Well looks like Massey miners & security just want to spend the night harassing us.”