BEAVER, W.Va.–We received word about an hour ago that Raleigh County is releasing Laura Steepleton and is dismissing all charges against. Dismissing charges, however, does not get back the night she was wrongfully made to spend in jail.
Also, Mike Roselle and Tom Smyth were bailed out of jail yesterday and are back home.
ROCK CREEK, W.Va.–A Raleigh County Sheriff arrested tree sitter Laura Steepleton at her home today on failure to appear charges. According to friends of Steepleton’s, she has been calling Raleigh County all this past week asking if she had a court date and was never told of one.
According to the Raleigh County Magistrate’s office, they have no record for Steepleton and that it’s likely a Circuit Court case, which means no news will come till open of business in the morning.
Steepleton’s arrest happened the same day that Mike Roselle and Tom Smyth, the last remaining jailed Marfork Office arrestees, were released on bail.
UPDATE:
Heard from Laura and spoke with the Kanawha Co. Magistrate’s office. The latter said she was taken in on a capias warrant for violating the bond agreement from the DEP action. The criminal case from her charges in that action have been completely resolved. The magistrate’s office said that Mag. Yeager will arraign Steepleton when he receives paperwork from Raleigh County, who arrested and hold her in the Southern Regional Jail.
The following is from Eric Blevins, one of the recent Coal River Mountain tree sitters:
I wrote this letter to the editor to the Beckley paper while in jail and told it to someone over the phone who sent it to them for me. They didn’t print it in their next issue and I doubt they printed it after that, but I thought you might like to read it:
This is in response to the article in Saturday’s paper about Amber and I coming down from our tree sit and the letter about paid, outsider environmentalists who support the EPA, which I read while sitting in the Southern Regional Jail.
I am not an outsider. I am an Appalachian. Virginia-based Massey Energy is an outsider. The people who live in the mountains and work on the mine sites work harder, longer hours and make less money than those who work at Massey’s headquarters in Richmond. All the people here should control how the land around them is used and they should profit the most from it, not people in an office far away who aren’t as impacted by the decisions they make that destroy our mountains.
I and most activists I know are not paid. We are volunteers. Groups like Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero help raise funds for legal fees and action supplies, but don’t pay people. Their money is donated by people who support the abolishment of mountaintop removal. They have budgets of just a few thousand dollars each. Massey has billions of dollars. They recently laid off workers and raised CEO Don Blankenship’s salary.
I and most activists I know do not support the EPA. They are not doing enough to stop the destruction of our mountains. While they review permits, the explosions are still going off in our home every day.
I climbed a tree to defend God’s beautiful divine creations: the people who live below the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment being threatened with imminent death by the blasting, the plants and animals being slaughtered, Coal River Mountain, our air and our water. The actions of my friends and I were nonviolent and defensive. Massey’s actions are violent and offensive. They blasted air horns and sirens at us in the trees almost nonstop for days on end. They have said that 998 people will die if the dam there fails, yet they set off explosives near it. It is an unlined earthen dam and those fail, like the one operated by TVA near my home in Tennessee that spilled 1.6 billion gallons of coal waste just over a year ago, practically destroying an entire community. Brush Fork holds back over 7 billion gallons, for now. It may not hold it back much longer if we don’t stop the blasting.
Eric Blevins
February 5, 2010
Yesterday, Judge Irene Berger issued a continuance and delayed the federal hearing on Marfork Coal Company’s request for an injunction against activists associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice. Marfork, Massey’s subsidiary operator on Coal River Mountain, filed in federal court for $75,000 in damages and filed a restraining order against five of the seven people arrested during the recent tree-sit. Marfork is asking that the defendants be restrained from trespassing “or otherwise congregating” on any mining property associated with Massey Energy. In its complaint, Marfork cites Climate Ground Zero’s unwavering commitment to a sustained campaign of civil disobedience as a justification for the injunction, stating: “Defendants and their cohorts affiliated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice, have represented by their words and proven through their actions that they will not be deterred by the imposition of a monetary fine or the prospect of serving a jail sentence for their criminal conduct, but will continue to trespass on mining properties operated by Marfork and other entities affiliated with A.T. Massey and Massey Energy.”
Judge Berger granted Marfork a temporary restraining order (TRO), and a hearing to extend the TRO into a full injunction was to be held yesterday, February 4, in Beckley. Earlier this week, we filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, as Marfork’s claim of $75,000 in damage contradicts their own public statement that the tree-sit did not stop operations at the Bee Tree Strip Mine. As tree-sitter Amber Nitchman put it: “It is ridiculous that Marfork claims that I did nothing to interfere with their work, and at the same time is asking me for $75,000 in damages. They should be the ones paying for damages. The citizens of Raleigh County deserve far more than $75,000 for the harm being done to their mountains, air, and water.”
The hearing has been continued until February 23, at 10 a.m., to give Marfork lawyers time to respond to our motion. Please stay tuned for any updates — we’ll be asking for as many people as possible to show up in federal court as we put Massey and mountaintop removal on trial.
Relevant court documents can be found here.
Thank you everyone who has donated towards the initial legal expenses of this last tree sit. We’ve raised $4,271.71 towards the total $9,526.00, or 45 percent of our initial costs. This tree sit earned mention in the New York Times and Washington Post, not to mention repeated coverage on multiple TV outlets, Business Week, and local and national newspapers. Democracy Now!, Free Speech Radio News and other non-mainstream outlets also picked up the action repeatedly, including front-and-center on Indymedia.us.
Please donate to the legal defense fund by PayPal or otherwise, or donate to our general operating fund which is just as important, through PayPal or otherwise. Every donation makes a difference, regardless of size.
But more important than the media coverage, the West Virginia governor actually agreed to meet with us about the felonious abuse Massey was subjecting the tree sitters to, and the campaign is going to federal court. This came after clogging the phone system at Massey’s headquarters in Richmond, Va., and a call-in day to the governor himself.
Thank you everyone who continues to make this campaign possible. More details will be forthcoming about the federal lawsuit Massey filed against five of the seven arrested in the tree sit, seeking at least $75,000 in damages. We’ll be asking for as many people as possible to show up for these court dates as we put Massey and mountaintop removal on trial.
The restraining order and lawsuit court documents are available for PDF download here.
Amber Nitchman, Eric Blevins, David Aaron Smith, David Baghdadi, Benard Fiorillo, Josh Graupera and Isabelle Rozendaal stopped a blast site on Coal River Mountain for nine days, now their total bail amounts to $9,625.00. Nitchman and Blevins are still in jail, held for a combined cash-only total of $5,000.
Please donate to the Mountain Justice legal defense fund: Paypal, or another method.
Bail is paid to the state of West Virginia to release people who have been arrested. The state then returns it in full when the person goes to trial. A donation to the legal fund stays in the campaign and enables us to expand the campaign of civil resistance.
The most egregious charge out of all seven people was the concealed weapon charge levied against Baghdadi for a limb saw. He was trying to get the saw to Nitchman so she could saw off a sapling that was being repeatedly slammed into her platform. The three sitters were charged with trespass, conspiracy and obstruction, while the remaining four were charged with trespass and conspiracy.
Thank you everyone who has supported us for almost a year on the front lines. Friends have loaned thousands of dollars to get people out of jail, but those loans must be repaid soon. Some people are also not able to pay all the fines that judges gave them after arrest.
It’s equally important, in order to maintain a robust action agenda, to continually raise legal funds as we stick it to mountaintop removal and the largest coal mine operator in Appalachia: Massey Energy.
You can also support us in a more indirect fashion through the purchase of the critically acclaimed Still Moving Mountains CD, or the long-awaited photojournalistic exposé, Dragline.
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.
Climate Ground Zero Meets with Governor Manchin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: 304-854-7372, news@climategroundzero
Note: For more info, see:www.climategroundzero.org, www.mountainjustice.org
January 28, 2010
CHARLESTON, WV – Responding to national pressure over the treatment of tree sitters on Coal River Mountain, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin asked Climate Ground Zero for an emergency meeting. This morning Roland Micklem, 81, and other group members told the Governor that the civil-disobedience campaign won’t stop until mountaintop removal does. They reminded the governor that the campaign is strictly non-violent, and asked the governor to protect activists from threats of violence by Massey Energy and other coal companies.
“The governor attempted to steer the conversation away from the more massive crime of MTR,” said Micklem. “We are here to oppose mountaintop removal mining, which is a crime. Massey Energy has committed any number of illegalities. We will continue non-violent civil disobedience in order to stop it.”
Today is the eighth day that Eric Blevins, 28, and Amber Nitchman, 19, continue to peacefully occupy trees to prevent blasting near Massey Energy’s Bee Tree strip mine on Coal River Mountain. They are preventing Massey from blasting near a sludge dam that endangers downstream communities.
The sitters have faced constant harassment from Massey Security in the form of air horns, bright lights and violent threats. The meeting resulted in a temporary moratorium on the use of the air horns and flood lights, but the sitters remain worried about the possibility of other, more dangerous, methods of harassment.
Governor Manchin recently came out against violence between the opponents and proponents of mountaintop removal mining after a meeting with coalfield residents about the effects of that type of mining.
In response to news of the harassment, hundreds of people from all over the country called Massey Energy, and then Governor Manchin to express their displeasure with his continued support of mountaintop removal mining, and to pressure him to stop the auditory abuse of the tree sitters. “The massive call-ins to the Governor and Massey Energy this week came from all over the country; mountaintop removal is a national issue with national consequences – the coal companies cannot continue to treat central Appalachia like their own personal playground,” said David Aaron Smith, one of the sitters who had to come down Monday.
Today Manchin stated: “Even if we disagree, I believe we can walk away respecting each other but everyone—including activists and property owners—must do so within the letter of the law.” Activists acknowledge that they are taking part in civil disobedience in response to legal violations committed by mining companies. In the debate with Robert Kennedy Jr last week, Massey CEO Don Blankenship said “I doubt it’s possible [to do mountaintop removal] without having a single violation at a single time.”
Governor Joe Manchin III speaks to the press while Bo Webb and Judy Bonds, local activists, and Dr. Ben Stout, a biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University, linger and converse in the background. Governor Manchin emphasized the importance of a respectful, non-violent dialogue about the issues of mountaintop removal in his meeting with local residents and activists Monday night. Photo by Cheshire/Climate Ground Zero.
Contact: Climate Ground Zero, 304-854-7372 or news@climategroundzero.org
Pettus, W. Va.–This Monday, January 25, W.Va. Governor Joe Manchin held a summit with several opponents of mountaintop removal, including well-known local activists Judy Bonds and Maria Gunnoe, and Dr. Michael Hendryx, a researcher whose studies have concluded that the health costs of coal are greater than the profit it brings in. After the meeting, Manchin, a coal supporter, stated, “We will not in any way, shape or form in this state of West Virginia tolerate any violence against anyone on any side. If you’re going to have the dialogue, have respect for each other.”
Meanwhile on Coal River Mountain, Eric Blevins, 28, and Amber Nitchman, 19, continue to peacefully occupy trees on Massey Energy’s Bee Tree strip mine to halt Massey’s blasting near a sludge dam that endangers the community. While the tree sitters conduct this non-violent protest of mountaintop removal, they face constant harassment from Massey Security. The security personnel have been blasting five airhorns just below the sitters’ platforms to force the sitters to descend. At one point, security personnel tied a rope to a thinner tree next to the one occupied by Nitchman, and repeatedly pulled and released the rope so that it would hit the bottom of Nitchman’s platform. Discussion of spraying the sitters with firehoses has been heard over two-way radios. The police have been shown the appropriate West Virginia legal statute, §61-3E-10, have acknowledged the felony endangerment,and have declined to take any action. Prosecutors and Manchins’ office have also refused to act after being notified of the situation and the laws that Massey is breaking.
On Tuesday, hundreds of people called Governor Manchin’s office and asked that he put an end to Massey’s abuses. Thus far, he has not responded. Many are infuriated by the discrepancy between Manchin’s promises and the violence that Massey continues to perpetuate. “On January 25, Governor Manchin promised all of West Virginia that violence will not be tolerated,” local activist Judy Bonds said. “On January 26th, I and others called the Governor to ask that he step up to the plate to stop the abuse and violence to two peaceful tree sitters, but the Governor has not kept his promise.”
“The abuse continues as soon as the police leave, which sends a strong message to all abusers that it’s okay as long as you don’t get caught,” said Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch. “Governor Manchin’s inaction speaks far louder than his promises. If he hopes to restore citizens’ faith that he meant what he said, he needs to take strong action to stop the violence now.”
Massey Energy released a statement yesterday in response to the ongoing tree sit on Coal River Mountain. It’s partially posted here, but we’ve been unable to find the rest of it because it was not given directly to Climate Ground Zero. This is Climate Ground Zero’s response:
Massey Energy, in their recent statement, makes a number of allegations against Climate Ground Zero and our ongoing tree sit on Coal River Mountain’s Bee Tree Mine Site. We would like to address these allegations formally, in order to set the record straight and clarify some of Massey’s more misleading comments.
Massey has repeatedly and vociferously pointed out that certain individuals taking part in actions on Massey property are not from the state of West Virginia. Though the sitters are not West Virginian, neither is Massey. Massey Energy is an out-of-state mining and landowning company – falling in tradition to the absentee landholders that have plagued West Virginia for centuries. Landholding companies own 90 percent of Coal River Mountain and out-of-state landholding companies own 60 percent. In fact, out-of-state, usually absentee landholders like Rowland Landholding (Massey’s sometime landlord) hold the vast majority of southern West Virginia.
Coal River Mountain is by no means untouched; underground mining, contour mining and the huge toxic threat that is the Brushy Fork Impoundment have already disturbed it. However, taking down Coal River Mountain’s mountaintop would still be extremely detrimental to the watershed, because it would remove a large chunk of the land that currently absorbs rainfall and sequesters carbon. This would cause more flooding along the lines of what was seen along the Tug Fork last May, kill the Coal River with sediment and contribute to climate change.
According to the WV Office of Miners’ Health, Safety, and Training 2008 Annual Report and Directory of Mines, 25 % of the coal mined in West Virginia was mined by mountaintop removal, yet the industry routinely claims that only a tiny fraction of permits are “true mountaintop mining” permits. “For example, in the Mountaintop Mining Fact Book, the National Mining Association wrote “About 70 percent of U.S. coal production is mined using surface mining methods, including MTM.” Massey claims surface mining as mountaintop removal when it suits them, and then reverts to a highly specific definition in order to attempt to discredit those who oppose MTM.
Massey’s planned 6,000 acre mine on Coal River Mountain would destroy the entire mountain and create 17 valley fills. It falls clearly into the EPA’s definition of mountaintop mining from its 2003 Environmental Impact Statement: “’Mountaintop mining’ refers to coal mining by surface methods (e.g., contour mining, area mining, and mountaintop removal mining) in the steep terrain of the central Appalachian coalfields.” The tree sit is stopping a box cut, and whether it is on the top of the ridge, or just underneath, to claim that it is not a mountaintop removal operation is a deceptive splitting of hairs.
At the Twilight, Edwight and Kayford mine sites they destroyed multiple mountains, including Bailey Mountain, Cherry Pond Mountain and Kayford Mountain. The more mountains that are leveled by the mining companies in this valley, the more the valley and the communities in it are made into a drainage ditch; if it continues this way, they will have to rename the Mountain State.
According to Massey’s “Monitoring and Emergency Warning Plan and Procedures for the Brushy Fork Impoundment,” the Brushy Fork Impoundment is permitted to hold up to 8.2 billion gallons of sludge. That in itself is dangerous. Massey’s own filings with the WVDEP state that the children in the Head Start facility in Pettus, W.Va., would have no time to get out before they are hit by a 72 ft wall of toxic coal sludge. Five hours later, 25 miles away, the sludge will be 40 feet deep.
Massey accuses us of misrepresenting the volume of sludge in Brushy Fork, but their lower estimates on the volume of toxic sludge could be due to their recent drainage of the dam and the movement of the sludge to another location. Moving the sludge does little to address the real dangers of the matter of toxic coal waste storage.
The Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill was just over one billion gallons. The resulting flood covered 300 acres and contaminated tributaries of the Tennessee River with toxic coal ash waste. The full extent of the disaster’s ecological and health impacts are still unknown more than a year later. This is just one of many coal waste storage failures or spills in the past two decades. What’s more, despite their rejection of the figure, Massey offered no exact figure to counter 8.2 billion gallons because they’re just playing a semantics game.
As we have said before, when Massey leaves Coal River Mountain it will be so scarred and de-elevated that, in the end, the effects will be the same whether you checked the box on that permit or not. It’s mountaintop removal.
Massey stated that MTM/VF sites will be useable for wind farms. On the contrary, Gamesa, a major wind developer, said they won’t put a wind farm on Coal River Mountain after mining. After a mountain is strip-mined, the ground is too unstable to support wind turbines without making their foundations many more feet deep, which is prohibitively expensive.
The sitters acknowledge they are putting themselves at risk and believe it’s worth that risk to stop the greater crime of strip mining. The statement that the sitters are a threat to the safety of the miners and police is unsound. The protestors seek to make this situation as safe as possible for all individuals, being careful to avoid dropping things from their platforms or engaging in any other unsafe behavior. Alternatively, Massey actively seeks to endanger the sitters through their wanton use of noisemakers and lights; depriving the sitters of sleep and creating a more dangerous situation. The more significant danger at hand is Massey’s gambling with the lives of over 1,000 people living on, around and downstream of Coal River Mountain and the Brushy Fork Impoundment as well as the safety of their own workers.
It’s high time Massey stopped shifting the focus away from their destructive behavior and time for them to take responsibility for the danger they are creating in these communities. If Massey were truly held to the law just like the rest of us, they would have been locked up long ago.
We take accuracy and facts very seriously and believe the truth is on our side. It is never our intention to deceive anyone or to be untruthful. It’s time the EPA stopped beating around the facts and ban strip mining for good. No more SMCRA compromise, no more mountaintop removal.
Learn About Mountain Top Removal on Coal River Mountain
Take Massey’s advice and look at Google Earth. You’ll see strip mines all around Coal River Mountain. However, since Massey has been so quick and efficient at destroying mountains, Google Earth has not been able to keep up and doesn’t show all the destruction. First, turn on the mountaintop removal layer under “Global Awareness.” Second, download additional layers of mining permit boundaries here. Just take a spin around and see the reality of this horrible mining practice.