Monday, September 25th, 2006

Mike Roselle’s story of Ed Wiley’s walk to Washington is reprinted today in Counterpunch:

This morning, Floyd and I, along with Ed Wiley, a West Virginia grandfather and former coal miner, and over one hundred supporters marched the final mile of Ed’s epic 455-mile walk from Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia to the steps of the Senate Office Building. Ed left Charleston on Aug. 2 to raise awareness about the school’s location next door to a coal refuse pond and preparation plant; and to build public support for the construction of a new school in a different location.

Marsh Fork Elementary School is on the front lines of the controversial practice known as mountaintop removal coal mining. It’s students are becoming the casualties.

An active 1,849-acre mountaintop removal coalmine surrounds the school area. Marsh Fork Elementary sits just 225 feet from a Massey Energy coal-loading silo that releases high levels of coal dust and saturates the air in the school. Independent tests have shown that coal dust is hazardous to the health of school children. And a leaking earthen dam holding back 2.8 billion gallons of toxic coal-sludge is also located above the school site. What’s more, Massey Energy wants to build another silo. Much to the chagrin of people like Ed Wiley.

Read the full story here.

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