For Immediate Release
Contact: Dea Goblirsch and Charles Suggs 304 854 7372
Email: news@climategroundzero.org
QUARRIER, W.Va.- Four protestors locked down to a coal truck entering a mine site in the vicinity of Quarrier and Decota at 7 a.m. this morning. Four other protestors joined them on the Kanawha County site, hanging two banners; one across the haul road and another on the back of the truck. The first banner read “Stop,” the second “Stop Mountaintop Removal.”
The nonviolent protestors intend to remain locked to the coal truck until law enforcement removes them. They have taken this action to highlight the detrimental effects of mountaintop removal mining, including its lack of economic sustainability.
“By blocking this road, we aim to bring attention not only to Appalachia’s disappearing mountains, but also to its disappearing job market,” said Jonathon Irwin, 23.
The highly active site is near Cabin Creek and Paint Creek, an area rich in union history. The two creeks were the locations of the first West Virginia mine war, fought from 1912 to 1913. Striking miners from 86 underground mines fought for higher wages, unionization and more autonomy from the company-town model.
Mechanization, which allows for strip and mountaintop removal mining, has drastically decreased mine jobs in West Virginia. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the early 1950s there were between 125,000 and 145,000 miners employed in the state; in 2004 there were just over 16,000. Draglines and other advances in technology resulted in a 37 percent decline in mining jobs between 1987 and 1997, while coal production rose 32 percent during the same period. As of 2007, the difference in coal production was roughly cut in half and jobs increased by 1,048.
Coal jobs are also threatened by the limited amount of remaining mineable coal. Nick Rahall, a Congressional representative from Raleigh County, claimed in a State Journal article that we only have twenty years left in West Virginia’s most productive coal seams and that the state should begin looking at alternative energy options.
Some communities have taken initiatives themselves; the Coal River Wind Project proposes turning Coal River Mountain in to an industrial wind farm. This would create 200 jobs for a two-year construction period and 40 to 50 permanent jobs. A mine on Coal River Mountain would create 57 jobs per million tons mined, according to a 2007 Mine Safety and Health Administration report. This is substantially below the U.S. Department of Energy estimates of 95 employees per million tons mined for southern West Virginia sites. The three mine sites proposed for the mountain have been estimated to be active through 2025, whereas the wind farm could last as long as the wind blows.
The protestors are also bringing attention to mountaintop removal as a national issue.
“There is a coal plant a block from where I live [in Oberlin, Ohio],” said Erika Zarowin, who locked down to the truck, “I get my heat and electricity from coal.” Some of the coal burned in Oberlin, like the coal bought by most American power utilities, comes from mountaintop removal.
Editor’s Note: Later information confirmed that the protestors were not in fact locked to a coal truck, but four were chained across a haul road, while four unrolled banners.
Tags: coal truck, lockdown
Protest and lockdown all in vain , as trucks were rerouted, just more young people with needless arrest records, and their hero absent as usual.
Would love to see the pictures of these people chained to the coal truck and the banner hanging from the truck. This did not happen. Not only do they bypass the legal system they choose to overide the law and take matters into their own hands. Bad things happen when people choose this form of protest.
[...] read the full text of the press release, please visit Climate Ground Zero. Contact Dea Goblirsch or Charles Suggs at 304 854 7372 for [...]
These brave folks are the heroes, for this generation and those to come. Thanks guys! You’re my heroes!
[...] by Sparki in RAN General on October 22nd, 2009 This morning, just before dawn, four individuals chained themselves across a haul road on a strip mining site in [...]
[...] This morning, just before dawn, four individuals chained themselves across a haul road on a strip mining site in Kanawha County, West Virginia to protest mountaintop removal mining. Four more joined them on site in support roles, unfurling two banners, one reading simply “Stop” and the other reading “Stop Mountaintop Removal.” This action was part of the ongoing Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience. [...]
Sure is nice of these folks to volunteer land that isnt theirs for a wind farm. In order to choose the future of the land, you must OWN the land. If you do not own the land then the owner of the land will decide. Its a basic detail but try to keep up. In reading the rest of the info, they talk about loss of jobs in the coal industry but want to cut more jobs by using wind. Build the wind farms on land you own. Spend your time building wind farms. We will mine coal.
[...] Climate Ground Zero’s press release about the arrests can be found here. [...]
And, of course, I now get another email from my co op asking to contribute to a fund to help bail out the arrested Oberlin students. Here’s an idea–if there’s a high percentage you’re gonna get arrested, have some sort of plan for how your gonna pay for bail?
Those young people are their own heroes. We are our own heroes. When we all show to the front there will be not vanity.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eco Tech Daily, Roland Applegate. Roland Applegate said: I was going over my last banjo lesson! but, http://bit.ly/FYqbg [...]
No! Not in vain! It will bring attention to what is going on there! World wide ATTENTION!
Watcher, What are you watching for? You’ve missed the point entirely. The hero is always there. Some folks watch but never see.
Watcher’s still watching and waiting? Just who are the investors itching to throw their money into this wind farm on coal river mountain?
Oh,and btw I hear the”hero” is heading out west this week to Oregon.
Watcher, don’t hurry them. They will have to wait till Master Mike comes home to find out where the money comes from. Oh the way I see it Mrs. Gunnoe came into some money why does she not make it of public info. how she is helping the wind farms. Has she ever been arrested and bail been payed for her release? Maybe she would like to make it public info of how much of the $150,000 she has paid towards a protester(s) bail. Seems like I am being nosey, maybe even a little personal. I just would like to see how serious she is. GIVE BACK to those to GAVE TO YOU. That’s what COMMUNITY is all about, right?
[...] Climate Ground Zero’s press release about the arrests can be found here. [...]
[...] Web site here, and there’s more information available on the Climate Ground Zero site here. var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, favorites, digg, [...]