Nine-Day Tree Sit Ends, Sitters Vow Not Over Until Blasting Stops
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: 304-854-7372, news@climategroundzero.org
Note: For more info, see : www.climategroundzero.org, www.mountainjustice.org
January 29, 2010
PETTUS, WVa—After blocking Massey Energy’s operations on the Bee Tree Permit for nine days, Amber Nitchman, 19, and Eric Blevins, 28 descended from their respective trees. They had occupied the two oak trees—originally accompanied by a third tree sitter, David Aaron Smith, 23—to protest mountaintop removal and the blasting of Coal River Mountain. Upon descent, they were immediately arrested by West Virginia State Troopers. The sitters’ decision to leave the trees was made in light of the recent drop in temperature.
After a week of Massey security harassing the sitters with deafening sirens and air horns, a call-in pressure campaign was launched by Climate Ground Zero, Mountain Justice and other anti-mountaintop removal groups. The receipt of hundreds of calls from around the country led to an emergency meeting with Climate Ground Zero volunteers, the Raleigh County prosecutor and Governor Manchin. The meeting resulted in the moratorium and a call for an investigation of the abuse.
The tree sit represents Climate Ground Zero’s most sustained intervention in mountaintop removal mining operations since its campaign of nonviolent direct action began last February. Volunteers know that the fight is far from over and expect work to commence on the Bee Tree site immediately. However, they see this tree sit as a victory. “It halted blasting for nine days. I think they’ve wildly succeeded with their goals,” said Climate Ground Zero volunteer Mike Bowersox. In a final communication from her perch, Nitchman captured the group’s resolve. “Its not over until the blasting is stopped,” she said.
You guys did a great thing. Thank you.
We are so proud of y’all!!!!!!!!
Wise decision with impending storm certain.
I’m so very proud of you both. Nine days of cold weather, air horns and threats provided media exposure to a very deserving issue.
“If he puts you in jail, you go in that jail and transform it from a dungeon of shame to a haven of freedom and human dignity.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank you sooooo much for your courage and determination! It constantly amazes me! And a solid thank you to all the support crew with which this action couldn’t have happened.
Thanks so much to ALL the brave folks that were arrested as part of this tree sit! You all rock, I’m so proud of you all!
So very proud of you. There is a big storm coming but spring is around the corner.
Your determination is amazing.Thank you.
Thank you so much for all that you do!
Hang in there! People in trees and their supporters saved the Headwaters Forest, and come spring folks like me from all over America will be on the move to support you. The important thing is that the battle line has been drawn. History is on our side. People can be more powerful than money!
forty-one years ago,today, i enlisted in the USMC, cause i believed in this country,, God bless the tree-sitters and support crew for keeping it REAL!!!!! thanks kids,,
I am inspired by your bravery. keep it up. The work is not done!
The wife and I wish to thank you for your demonstrations of bravery and love for your fellow man. See you all soon.
Well done everyone involved – 9 days of effectively stopping Massey Energy from destruction of communities in Rock Creek. And keep up the spirit of not stopping until MTR is history – way to finish up strong.
Thank you all for your dedication and bravery above and beyond. Way to hang tough! – see your commemorative artwork at coalwar.com
Thank you for all that you’ve endured. Your efforts have been heroic and truly successful in many ways.
i work on the bee tree job and you need to quit posting lies because you did not stop nothing we continued to work as if nothing was going on YOU NEED TO GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM THIS IS OUR LIVLELYHOOD THIS IS HOW WE EARN A LIVING COAL MINES ARE HERE TO STAY IN THE SOUTHERN COALFIELDS IF WAR IS WANT YOU WANT THEN WAR IS WHAT YOULL GET GET THE HELL OUT OF THE COALMINERS LIVES AND GET A LIFE OF YOURE OWN
My fist is in the air, my eyes are shining with pride and thanks and admiration. We WILL win this struggle, if it takes a thousand tree-sits. We WILL stop the destruction of our mountains, our forests, our people.
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.
- Samuel Adams
people like you are the light i see in humanity. this light is the only thing left that lets me believe in the true freedom that is slowly being taken away from us by the large corporations and fascist governments that have been bought by the top .01 percent. You guys are real heros and this kinda of bravery rarely exist in a world of glamor and aloofness. thanks for everything you have done
THe comment by BullyG31 above is interesting – another violent threat by a Massey employee.
The protestors are using non-violent, peaceful means.
Bullyg31,
I do not have to go back to where I came from. I was borne, and have lived in southern WV for 65 years. My father was a coal miner, my grandfather was a coal miner. This is my native land, just as it is yours. I have known for many years now, that this is a war with those who are destroying our mountains, water, communities, and our very existance. Try to find a decent job. Change is here. Accept it.
BullyG31: These folks don’t understand because they aren’t dependent on coal to provide for them! They also don’t understand that coal isn’t only used for electricity, but also for the production of steel. So whether they will admit it or not, THEY ARE A FRIEND OF COAL!!! If they weren’t a friend of coal they would get rid of everything steel/metal they own, and turn off the lights in their house if it is provided by a coal fired plant. Are you day or night bullyg? I usually have to pass along messages to the nightshift boss, who we’ll refer to as “G”. Ya’ll keep up the good work and don’t let these people get your hopes down. Remember, AN ALL EXPENSE PAID SCUBA DIVING TRIP IS AVAILABLE!!!
From Fidget down in Haiti doin medic relief, and me of course: YOU ROCK!!! Wahoooo Rock Creek!!!
Bully and Brushy – You don’t need to be dependent on coal. You’re better than that.
the funny thing is that ISP addresses are easily traceable and these two buffoons making threats about “war” and “scuba diving trips available” could very easily find themselves in a sticky situation. Non-violent is not passivity and it takes more to hang some tree huggers than others. As far as I am concerned, I sure hope that bully and brushy achieve the enlightenment they so fervently seek.
Tennessee Valley Autahoritarian: Do you actually think we are that stupid??? That’s how you people manipulate folks into believing MTR is sooooooo bad. I simply said scuba diving trip and you think it is a threat on some scale!!! I hope you fuckers have fun while we are making plans for the trip! LOL!!!
But, BullyG is right… If war is what you all want, then that is what you’ll get… You all started it, so don’t back out now!
coming from a long line of west virginians, i want to thank these tree-sitters for getting the message out about this destruction. my family knew that the land is LITERALLY what sustained them, and had healthy, prosperous lives in the WV mountains without coal… living simply and sustainably. thank you to everyone who is working toward a healthier appalachia.
just a note, the majority of steel is produced by recycled scrap. This process involves a lot of electricity (electric ark furnace) and very little coal directly. Now I know that most power plants still use coal to steam the water for their turbines, but why not nuclear or wind or tides. As a production member of a coal mine I will make an assumption and generalization, knowing that this may offend many. I will assume that many of you do not have higher education in the terms of a degree. This would normally limit the job potential. However if we move our energy production from coal to anything else, there is still a great need for production workers. Therefore coal is really not as important as you think. More importantly its production is highly destructive to the environment and many peoples lives. So there should be a simple compromise for both parties where we provide an alternative livelihood for current miners and an alternative energy source for environmentally conscious people.
If the tree sit didn’t stop anything, then why do Massey employees complain? It certainly didn’t seem to stop them from getting paid. How many hours of overtime those security folks rack up? And if Massey claims that the tree sitters were endangering their employees, then will they be adding extra hazardous duty pay for the last pay period? Any construction worker can tell you that minor delays are perfectly welcome when you’re working per-contract.
Who’s your real enemy?
How do you expect anyone to truely take you seriously when you are all full of shit? You have an agenda, and you use propaganda and manipulate people’s words and the outcome of events to make your actions seem more heroic and important than they really are. You claim that you stopped the blasting ever so proudly all over your website (which should have a banner on the home page stating “this website runs on a server powered by coal, thanx goes out to Don Blankenship and all at Masset Energy.) Though you may have delayed the blasting, you did not stop it. Yes guys, those trees you were sitting in are most likely already in a refuse heap and where their roots were once planted lies enough amonium nitrate to make the unibomber cream in his underoos. You claim threats where made. This may be feasable but where is your evidence? You have all these pictures of the site you were at and all this other shit you were sending home to the commanding hippies to plaster on this page and their twitters and myspaces and other such electronic horse shit. Provide a name. Be specific. You say that the loud noise was disorientating and dangerous yet chose to be subjected to it. When you put something to the effect of “State police refuse to do shit to Massey” or whatever it is, make sure that the corrisponding audio clip actually shows police officers not working in accordance to the law. What the State police said over the phone in that clip is the exacting and correct lawful way of dealing with this. You entered onto mine property with no formal saftey training or the hazard training required by state and federal inspectors. You enter at your own risk. If your ears bleed you have nothing. If you fall out of the tree and break a dredlock, you have nothing. The article in the Gazette pretty much states that too. You have no case. Stop pretending like you do. You organisation allows and persuades its members to put their lives in danger to save a mountain. Come now, what’s really in this for you guys because your plight does not seem to be altruistic. It has been stated already that coal has more uses than just power plant fuel. You tree-huggin hippy types are the same morons that drive hybrid cars because environmentalism is a fad. From the 30something soccer mom loading her gigantic SUV with so-called “organic” groceries packed inside of those greeniac reusable shopping bags, to the hippy idiot who drives a Toyota Prius, feeling oh so good about him/herself all the while being blissfully ignorant about the fact that those econbox pieces of shit create more pollution during their manufacture then they could ever reclaim through being used. Not to mention the lead mining in Canada that provides the lead for the toxic battery packs. You’re best off driving a Hummer for 30 years, it will still create less pollution than the manufacture of a green mobile alone. You are the same misinformed idiots who made y2k ‘NOT’ happen, made swine flu out to be captain tripps, and believe that deep down inside Hitler was a sensitive man. I have something you can roast your little noggins on for a few. Be it that you believe in god, or are an athiest and believe in shear Darwinism, Human-kind were selected (either by this god or nature) to be that kings of this planet. You think we are screwing up nature yet nature made it possible for us to evolve into such intellegnt creatures that not only are we able to ‘not’ be a shit slinging primate, but capable of harnessing and exploiting what nature has to offer. Nature (or god) made it possible for us to dig into the earth and find a fuel to power the globe. Twist it around, it seems that you people trying to stop strip mining are actually going against god’s will and nature.
wow…. was that the DON speaking himself, or just a DON puppet…. because I’ve heard those exact words come from Blankenship’s mouth… didn’t he come up with the term ‘greeniac’? And it’s the same thing… lumping everyone that cares about the land that SUSTAINS them and human lives and health, into the ‘hippie/tree-hugger’ category to write them off. There wasn’t one intelligent argument in that comment. Oh… and might I add, a lot of misspellings.
Misspellings?
Yep… lots of them. And also lots of name-calling and cursing, which doesn’t lend itself well to positive dialogue.
Yeah I don’t care for the name calling and cursing either, just the truth.
Dear Mr. WTF….dreadlocks are so hot….don’t you think? “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”
diploabu Chinua Achebe quote
Wait do you know the meaning of integrity? Well, you can google it. Wait, do you know what “google it” means? Oh hell, I’ll just tell you.
Integrity – Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.
Usually this means standing for what is good and right even when it is not the popular thing to do. Those protestors have more integrity in their pinky fingers than you’ll ever have in your entire body.
Mr. WTF,
Bless your little heart. You know so many small words, and have put them all in one paragraph.
Mr. WTF: Since when does it take an intelligent creature to plow and destroy a landscape? That sounds more like a barbaric creature to me. An intelligent, or intellgnt, creature would be able to take a step back and stop blowing shit up just because its the cheap way to do things. Its only cheap because we’re not paying the true cost. There are so many things wrong with what you said its really hard to begin. But seriously, you think hummers are the way to go? And where did this Hitler argument come from? And honestly, I don’t know what God wills the same way you don’t either, but I don’t think God would want us to destroy life and the future of this planet. We’re supposed to love, remember? Just because we have the ability to do something, it does not make it right. Please, resist your temptations to destroy mountains– it shows better character. But who am I to judge? I suppose you’ll find that one out for yourself on judgment day.
Another “THANK YOU” to those who continue to fight against the powerful forces of pure evil and their shameful minions who believe that they are entitled to destroy our most precious shared resources in the name of the almighty dollar. For those whose lives are “dependent” on coal, I — like most commenters to this story — do not wish to see you and your families struggle unnecessarily. Likewise, I would not want to see the family of any other common thief be left out in the cold, but don’t think work is any more respectable or legitimate just because you have the dirty money of Blankenship et al at your back to grease the wheels of justice. It is only a matter of time before MTR is permanently banned. The power of good always triumphs over that of evil. I say this only to warn you that if you care about your family it is time to find a new line of work.
Much respect from Wollongong, Australia
Couldn’t you have used that money to buy solar panels for a family in Appalachia?
Being dependent on coal? Yeah we mine it and use it, the only difference Andrew is you help us keep that job. Thanks for doing your part.
Well done both of you..Thank you so much for your courage and determination!!!! I really inspired…God bless you all.
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