U.S.: Tree Sit Halts the Coal Blasting in southern West Virginia

Tree Sit Halts the Blasting in southern West Virginia

Contact: Kim Ellis – 304 854 7372
Email: news(at)climategroundzero(dot)org
Note: http://www.facebook.com/l/ae254;www.climategroundzero.org and
http://www.facebook.com/l/ae254;www.mountainjustice.org

“Coal River Mountain was the last mountain around here that hasn’t been touched and
they could’ve been using it for windmills…But Massey wants to get that coal. It
seems like they just don’t care about the populace. Just the land and their
checkbook.”
– Richard Bradford

MARFORK, W.Va. – Protestors associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice
halted blasting on Coal River Mountain today with a three-person tree-sit. David
Aaron Smith, 23, Amber Nitchman, 19 and Eric Blevins, 28 are on platforms
approximately 60 feet up two tulip poplar trees and one oak tree. They are located
next to where Massey Energy is blasting to build an access road to the Brushy Fork
Impoundment on its Bee Tree Strip Mine. Their banners state: “Save Coal River
Mtn.,” “EPA Stop the Blasting” and “Windmills Not Toxic Spills.”

“Massey Energy is a criminal corporation with over 4,500 documented violations of
the Clean Water Act, yet the government has given them permission to blast next to a
dam full of toxic coal waste that will kill 998 people if it fails.” said Blevins.
This action comes at the heels of a rigorously peer-reviewed study published in
Science Magazine which states “Mining permits are being issued despite the
preponderance of scientific evidence that impacts are pervasive and irreversible and
that mitigation cannot compensate for the losses.”

The sitters are calling for the EPA to put an end to mountaintop removal and
encourage the land-holding companies to develop clean energy production. The lack
of EPA enforcement in mountaintop removal encouraged Josh Graupera, 19, member of
the support team, to take part in this action “I knew that until I took an active
role in the struggle to end MTR, I was passively condoning the poisoning and
displacement of countless communities and in the obliteration of one of the oldest
and most diverse ecosystems on this continent.” Graupera said. Nitchman added, “I
act out of personal concern for the safety of water from toxic sludge, air from
smog, and mountains from annihilation.”

The Brushy Fork Impoundment is permitted to contain over nine billion gallons of the
toxic coal waste, and currently contains 8.2 billion gallons. Brushy Fork’s
foundation is built on a honeycomb of abandoned underground mines. If the foundation
were to collapse the slurry would blow out from all sides of the mountain.
According to Marfork Coal Co.’s emergency warning plan regarding the impoundment, in
case of a frontal dam breach, a 40 ft wall of sludge, 72 ft at its peak height,
would engulf communities as far as 14 miles away.

“Brushy Fork sludge dam places the downstream communities in imminent danger. The
threat of being inundated by a wall of toxic sludge is always present. Blasting
next to this dam increases the risk as well as destroying the opportunity for
renewable wind energy,” said Coal River Mountain Watch’s Vernon Haltom. According to
the Coal River Wind Project, the wind energy produced by a turbine farm on Coal
River Mountain could power 70,000 homes, provide more permanent jobs for local
residents and annually bring over a million more dollars in tax breaks revenue to
Raleigh County than coal currently does.

The sitters plan to remain in the trees as long as it takes to stop blasting on Coal
River Mountain. Climate Ground Zero’s action campaign, begun in February of last
year, has kept up a sustained series of direct actions since that time continuing
decades-long resistance to strip mining in Appalachia.
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