RAN activists just disrupted Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s talk at the National Press Club sending him a strong message:“Your coal is not Clean, Safe or Forever.” They were eventually escorted out by security.
Washington, D.C. (7/22/10)— Today activists with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) attended Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s National Press Club speaking event. RAN was there to call attention to Massey’s repeated mine safety violations, including the April 5 Upper Big Branch mine explosion in which 29 miners tragically died, as well as the company’s lead role in mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR). Blankenship has gained quite a reputation for his company’s mine safety violations as well as his indifference to environmental protection and climate change.
Katie Huszcza, Colin Flood, Jimmy Tobias, and Sophie Kern, activists with Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero were arrested last night and are held on a collective $12,000 bail. They were participating in an act of non-violent civil disobedience against the destructive and irresponsible practice of mountain top removal by locking themselves to a high wall miner on Coal River Mountain.
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Our Friends from Rainforest Action Network staged a sit-in this morning at EPA Headquarters, where activists occupied the lobby and used metal lock boxes to lock themselves together. The sit-in was to bring attention to EPA’s newly approved Pine Creek mountaintop removal permit in Logan County, West Virginia. This was a horrendous first decision,after last April it was anticipated that the EPA was going to be enforcing stricter MTR guidelines.
Photo by Chris Eichler Copyright Rainforest Action Network
8 Activists Arrested at Kayford Mountain Lock Down
Antrim Caskey
Kayford, WV — Eight activists with a coalition of groups including Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero walked on to the Patriot Coal mountaintop removal coal operation on Larry Gibson’s Kayford mountain in the early morning hours of March 23, 2009. Six of the protestors locked themselves, in groups of three, to a piece of massive earth moving equipment–referred to as a Yuke–with tires 24′ tall and hung a banner reading “Never Again” on the machine. The activists locked down for five hours. Ten officers from three different state and county authorities responded to the protest on Kayford, the largest number of people to be arrested during this sustained campaign of non violent civil disobedience that began in February, 2009.
The eight activists arrested include Kim Kirkbride, Ash-Lee Henderson, Tanya Turner, Jared Story, Willie Dodson, Will Wickham, Mathew Louis-Rosenberg, and Glenn Collins.
The activists were arrested and taken to Boone County seat at Madison, were processed and released on their own recognizances.
Will Wickham, Glenn Collins, Jared Story, Willie Dodson, Mathew Louis-Rosenberg, Kim Kirkbride, Ash-Lee Henderson and Tanya Turner, activists with Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero, are taken into custody after a 5 hour lock down to machinery on Patriot Coal's operation on Kayford Mountain. Three state authorities arrived on the scene: 6 Kanawha Sheriffs, 2 Boone County sheriffs and 2 WV state troopers. The protestors were taken to the Boone County seat at Madison and released on their own recognizances. photograph (c) Antrim Caskey, 2009
At 4:55pm today, March 11, a large blast detonated on the Massey Energy-owned Edwight mountaintop removal site in southern West Virginia. The blast spewed a dark gritty dust all over Peachtree hollow. The homes in the foreground are in upper Naoma. photograph by Antrim Caskey
“The moment someone says “Tree hugging” you know a coal company owns their soul.”
The Coal industry has spent tens of millions of dollars on a multi-platform public relations campaign to clean up coal's image. photograph (c) Antrim Caskey, 2008
“We don’t feel like our trespass is nearly as serious as what they’re doing to West Virginia,” Roselle says. “We want this stopped. And we’re going to do whatever we can.”
Mike Roselle and James McGuinness halt the movement of coal off Cherry Pond Mountain in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Very close to this MTR site sits 2.8 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge, precariously perched above the Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, WV. This Massey Energy-owned MTR site puts the lives of Coal River Valley residents at risk. Residents contend that blasting will further destabalize the sludge impoundment, while fly rock and rock dust shower the neighboring hollows of Naoma. photograph by Antrim Caskey
“This is a crime against nature”, said James McGuinness, “It is not only illegal, it is immoral.” “They have no right to destroy this mountain.”
Mike Roselle and James McGuinness of Climate Ground Zero protest on the Massey Energy-owned Edwight MTR site. They were cited for criminal trespass by WV State Police and released without incident. photograph by Climate Ground Zero
RAN activists just disrupted Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s talk at the National Press Club sending him a strong message:“Your coal is not Clean, Safe or Forever.” They were eventually escorted out by security.
