Date: January 31st 2010

Greetings from the Coal River Valley!

Well we have certainly had a busy start to 2010, just as we had hoped. As most of you probably know by now, our first ever action camp culminated with a 9-day treesit on the Bee Tree Surface Mine on Coal River Mountain. Camp attendees Eric Blevins, Amber Nitchman, and David A. Smith took to two oak trees and one tulip poplar to prevent further construction of a road from the Bee Tree site to the Brushy Fork impoundment where Ma ssey intends to dump a large portion of the rubble from the site. Four other folks from the camp were arrested supporting the sitters and attempting to re-supply them. Right now Eric and Amber remain in the Southern Regional Jail on $2,500 cash-only bails. This incredibly successful action has exhausted our legal defense fund, so please give if you can.

The sitters endured rain, freezing temperatures, and the near constant blaring of unbelievably loud sound machines that were rigged up just below their platforms. The decibel levels almost certainly exceeded levels from both MSHA safety regulations and scientific consensus risking serious and permanent hearing damage. We at Climate Ground Zero strongly believe that this constituted felony endangerment, though local law enforcement and prosecutors don't seem interested in acting to prevent Massey's criminal activity. Thanks to all of you who helped us bring pressure on Marfork, Massey and Gov. Manchin, be cause it clearly worked! On the seventh day of the sit, the machines were finally turned off after our friend Roland Micklem (who happily has returned to us) spoke to the Governor on the phone. Not only that, the Governor met personally with Roland and other CGZ representatives at his office in the Capitol the next day and promised to investigate Massey's actions. We don't expect much to come of it, but it's a testament to everyone that has worked on these issues and supported this campaign that the Powers That Be around here now feel compelled to meet with us.

The treesit went up the morning we served Massey notice that we're suing them over mistreatment during the last treesit (more info below in the legal update), also the morning of the much heralded debate between Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Mr. Don Blankenship himself. An incredibly civil affair for us in the coal fields, with nothing much new said by either side. We couldn't let it pass without comment. Some of our intrepid media got press passes and even got to question Donny!

Everyone at Climate Ground Zero would like to extend our most heartfelt and sincere gratitude to every single person that came to join us this January. Despite frigid cold, meager accommodations and more curve balls than anyone should have been expected to deal with, everyone stayed focused, kept up good spirits and pulled off the longest and most successful action of the campaign (we were even in the Washington Post!). Seriously, without folks like this, there would be no campaign.

This is no time to rest on our laurels unfortunately. The EPA appears to be backsliding with its approval of the Hobet 45 extension to the largest MTR site in the country and its apparent reconsideration of the veto of the Spruce #1 Mine. The WV Legislature is falling over itself to support the coal industry. Blair Mountain, site of the largest labor conflict in American history, has been removed from the National Historic Registry. And Marfork Coal Company has applied for a FIFTH surface mine on Coal River Mountain, adding another proposed 1300 acres. All this despite two landmark studies, one in the prestigious journal Science that declared unequivocally, “The scientific evidence of the severe environmental and human impacts from mountaintop removal is strong and irrefutable. Its impacts are pervasive and long lasting and there is no evidence that any mitigation practices successfully reverse the damage it causes,” and the other from our friends at Downstream Strategies demonstrating that Central Appalachian coal is on its way out and alternatives for West Virginia are needed now. So much for a new administration guided by science!

So now we redouble our efforts. Now is the time to act, in any and every way you can. And if you can, come join us. We have never been so close to victory.

For the Mountains,

CGZ

PS: Dragline is now available at www.climategroundzero.org. Get 'em while they're hot.

More Court Chaos:

Harassment and incompetence remain the norm in the judicial system in southern West Virginia. On Dec. 29^th, Kim Ellis, Mathew Louis-Rosenberg, James McGuinness, and Jacqueline Quimby were arrested at our home here in Rock Creek on warrants for failure to appear. The original charges apparently stem f rom the Oct. 10 banner drop on Walker Cat during the Senior March. Not only did none of those people commit trespass that day, but they were never informed of the court dates they supposedly missed. Instead of being taken to a Kanawha County magistrate, as the law demands, the four were held in a different county in the Southern Regional Jail for nearly 24 hours before being seen by a magistrate and promptly being released on their own recognizance. Apparently, the court was never informed that the activists were being held until one of the campaign's lawyers went to court the next morning. Ironically, the charge, simple trespass, carries a maximum of a $100 fine.

Nearly the same thing happened hardly a week later, when we discovered there was an arrest warrant for Nick Martin for allegedly failing to appear at a court date for the drill rig lockdown that he never received. That's likely not to matter because the magistrate presiding over all 4 of the drill rig cases had to recuse herself because her son works for Marfork! Whether this is willful harassment or simple incompetence, it doesn't speak well for the state of justice in West Virginia.

We will continue our legal battles. On the very first day of this most recent treesit, we filed a counter-suit against Massey for the first treesit for assault of our sitters. Massey has, of course, filed a fourth injunction and civil suit against this new group of sitters and supporters. We remain undeterred, and ten of us go to court in Kanawha County for the haul road blockade and these spurious Senior March arrests on February 8th. Your support is always greatly appreciated.