Just last night, we confirmed reports that Massey Energy has begun blasting on Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has stated that the mining operation on the mountain is “actively moving coal.” Workers were seen throughout this past week moving heavy equipment up to the mining zones, and blasting and plumes of smoke were seen and heard near the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment on Friday.
The Brushy Fork impoundment is an enormous retention pond holding 8.2 billion gallons of toxic coal slurry waste. If the impoundment were to fail due to the blasting, hundreds of lives will be lost and thousands more will be in jeopardy from an enormous slurry flood.
A 2006 study confirmed that Coal River Mountain — which has the highest peaks ever slated for mining in the state — is an ideal location for developing utility-scale wind power. Local residents have rallied around this proposal as a symbol of hope, a promise of a new and cleaner energy future, but that hope may be destroyed unless quick and decisive action is taken right now.
Please call President Obama today at 202-456-1414 and implore him to use his agencies and influence with West Virginia politicians to stop the destruction of Coal River Mountain immediately.
BREAKING NEWS: Reports are coming in from residents of West Virginia’s Coal River Valley that Massey Energy has begun mountaintop removal mining operations on Coal River Mountain. Sprawling across thousands of acres of diverse and pristine hardwood forests, this mountain is home to the tallest peaks ever permitted for destruction in the state of West Virginia. The mountain also became a powerful symbol of hope for a better future in the Appalachian coalfields after a study showed those peaks and ridges have wind resources as high as “Class 7,” which is the highest rating on the scale.
Local residents have rallied around a proposal for a 328 Megawatt wind farm and put up a website, coalriverwind.org, to promote their vision. The wind farm would, over the course of a few decades, provide far more jobs in the community than those created during the few years it would take Massey Energy to reduce the mountain to a flat, barren, and toxic wasteland. Just a few days ago, the AP reported that a local organization, Coal River Mountain Watch, has been working with Google Earth Outreach to design a presentation that will be shown at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, contrasting the proposed wind farm with Massey Energy’s plans for more than 6,000 acres of mountaintop removal coal mining on the mountain.
A 328 Megawatt wind farm versus a 6,000 acre mountaintop removal coal mine — there could be no better symbol of the crossroads we are at in America’s energy policy. Whichever way it goes, the fate of Coal River Mountain is America’s energy future. If the coal companies can mine Coal River Mountain, they can do anything they want. If they can destroy these peaks, we’ll know exactly what the effect that the billions in tax-payer giveaways to the coal industry will have if the climate bill is passed in its current form.
What’s at stake
There’s far more than just a wind farm at stake when it comes to the destruction of Coal River Mountain, however, both for residents of the Coal River Valley and for people across the country who believe that a clean energy future is within our grasp.
For local residents, this is the last intact mountain in the vicinity, home to some of the few remaining headwater streams that have not been polluted with heavy metal-laden mine waste. If Massey Energy’s plans aren’t stopped, they know exactly what’s in store – just a few weeks ago, a local Eyewitness News story about 200 families in the town of Prenter who are suing 9 coal companies for contaminating their well water with coal waste began as follows:
“Twenty-two year old Josh McCormick is dying of kidney cancer. Twenty-six year old Tanya Trale has had a tumor removed from her breast; her husband has had two tumors removed from his side and both have had their gallbladders taken out.
Rita Lambert has had her gallbladder removed; so has her husband and both parents.
Jennifer Massey has a mouthful of crowns and so does her son after their enamel was eaten away, and six of her neighbors – all unrelated – have had brain tumors, including her 29-year old brother, who died.
Bill Arden is one of those neighbors. He survived his brain tumor, but Arden’s eight-year old boxer named Sampson did not.
What do all of these people have in common? They all live within a 3-mile radius of Prenter Hollow in Boone County, West Virginia. And all have well water.”
As usual, despite overwhelming evidence that it’s the sludge they have been pumping into underground mine shafts that contaminated the groundwater, the coal companies deny any connection to the problem.
On Coal River Mountain, less than 100 yards from where the mining has begun, lies the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment, a massive earthen dam holding back 8.2 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge. Were that dam to fail, as several have done in the recent past, hundreds of lives could be lost in a matter of minutes and thousands would be put in jeopardy. Even short of complete dam failure, the risks to local communities are great. The ground beneath the impoundment is riddled with abandoned underground mine shafts, leaving many local residents with little doubt that some of that toxic slurry will end up in their groundwater as the foundation-shaking blasts of ammonium-nitrate explosives begin cracking rock strata and exposing aquifers to the contaminated water.
Outside the Coal River Valley and across the nation there is also a lot at stake — especially for the millions of young people who turned out en masse during last November’s election, believing they could take their country back from the powerful special interests that pulled the strings of government over the preceding eight years. Just this weekend, thousands of students are attending regional Powershift conferences, learning what they can do to bring about the new energy future, built around efficient use of clean and renewable energy technologies, they’ve been promised.
Many of those same young people who came out by the thousands chanting “Yes We Can!” last fall see mountaintop removal as a critical test of whether slogan applies to them, or really just to powerful corporations with a lot of political influence. Today, it’s coal companies like Massey Energy that are claiming the “Yes We Can!” mantle:
Yes we can destroy your mountains, drinking water, and dreams for a better future.
Yes we can threaten and intimidate you at public hearings and drown out your voice. Yes We Can!
Not that those young people at the Powershift conferences should return to the feelings of disenfranchisement and cynicism that has characterized their age group in the past. Moreover, the Obama Administration has begun to take small steps to rein in mountaintop removal mining, recently moving to veto the largest mountaintop removal permit ever proposed in West Virginia. But however the EPA decides to review – and in one case veto – mine permits, they are still letting mountaintop removal continue. Worse, they’re letting it continue under the industry-friendly rules, like the “Bush Fill Rule,” rigged by the last administration.
It’s time we demand the “change” we were promised, and Coal River Mountain — the most powerful symbol of the difference between the destructive policies of the past and the promise of a new energy future — is the line in the sand. Coal River Mountain must be saved.
The Administration has been hearing a lot from the coal industry, but have they heard from you? If not, you can start by calling the White House and telling the President’s staff your own reasons why you believe he should use his influence and agencies to stop the destruction of Coal River Mountain – and put an end to mountaintop removal mining once and for all. Here’s a link for more information: ilovemountains.org/coalriver/.
Next, sign up to for the e-mail list to stay informed and engaged in the campaign. It’s not a scam, your e-mail address won’t be traded or sold, so get over it and sign up – you can’t stay engaged and make a difference if you don’t stay informed. Here’s the link.
And finally, tell a friend, recruit a co-worker, or post the news to a list or a blog.
The mission is clear; the stakes couldn’t be higher; the fate of Coal River Mountain and our energy future are up to you. The time to act is now.
Six hearings were held last week to determine the fate of Nationwide Permit 21. If this permitting process is suspended by the Army Corps of Engineers, coal companies seeking permits for mountaintop removal mining that include valley fills will be held to more rigorous standards, be scrutinized under individual review, and be subject to public hearings before being granted. The public was asked to come out and voice their concerns about the suspension or renewal of the permit, known as NWP 21. A panel of Army Corps representatives listened to politicians that came to stump, miners and contractors that came to fight what they see as outsiders taking their jobs, and environmentalists that came to fight for the health of the people and land of the coal field.
Charleston, WV: October 13, Charleston Civic Center
Tensions in the heart of coal country ran to a boiling point when a large group of angry miners pushed anti-mountaintop removal activists against the side of a building. Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch was on the receiving side of the fray:
Although a few other people and I were in line and had filled out the registration forms to give comments, the Charleston police made us go out of the building where we were surrounded by more thugs pushing against us, threatening our lives, and again hurling insults. Our group included an eighty-year-old woman enduring 300-pound thugs screaming obscenities within three feet of her ears. After 15 minutes or so of this shameful display, the Charleston police required us to leave. Because it was easier to control a group of 6 or 7 peaceful people than a mob of hundreds of violence prone thugs, and because the police did not want any of us or the police to get hurt, they escorted us off the premises. Essentially, police inability to control the mob resulted in our inability to give verbal comments…Our friends inside the hearing were able to give comments, but were drowned out by the mob. When they complained to the hearing moderators, they were told the clock was ticking. When they left, the police refused to escort the last small group to their vehicles, forcing them to run the gauntlet without protection. The police said, “You all knew what you were getting into; you’re on your own,” or a similar reply when asked for escort to cars.
Watch the tension escalate to violence.
During the hearing, the court reporter indicated many times that he could not hear the speakers. Minutes-long standing ovations were given after pro-mountaintop removal rhetoric was delivered, and no attempt was made by the Army Corps to stop the shouting. Julian Weldon Martin, a retired Mingo County, WV coal miner attempted to speak to the panel in favor of suspending NWP 21. He could not be heard over the insults and yelling. Discouraged, he attempted to leave the building, and was accosted and threatened by Friends of Coal. Read his full account.
Pikeville, KY: October 13, East Kentucky Expo Center
Doug Doerrfeld of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth struggled to be heard over the raucous yelling and insults from the pro-surface mining contingent. He told the Army Corps:
The permitting processes used in the past are not working to protect our water resources. In ignoring science, common sense and the law, the Corps of Engineers and EPA have failed in their responsibility to enforce the Clean Water Act and the people of Kentucky and Appalachia are paying the price in increased flooding and degraded water.Coal must be mined more responsibly. It is not necessary or just to destroy headwater streams to provide jobs for miners. Likewise, it is not necessary or just to require miners to work in hazardous conditions or endure unsafe levels of dust, whether they work in rock trucks or underground. All of these practices are cheaper for the coal industry, but they are not legal, they are not moral, and they will not be tolerated.
As seen in the video above, Pike Co. resident Vanessa Hall said:
It ain’t easy being green in Pike County. I support this proposal by the Army Corps of Engineers to suspend the NWP 21 process. It is the least you can do to protect my water and my land. Fear tactics and intimidation have been used by absentee landowners and coal barons for years. They want to pit environmentalists against miners. I have been verbally accosted here tonight and told to get a real job. I resent that. I have worked in this county for years, and my forefathers fought in the American Revolution… It is not a question of jobs vs stream protection. I believe in jobs for everyone. But no company has a right to profit from destroying the water that we all depend on… I deserve clean water. Our citizens deserve clean water… I should be protected from dangers and abuse.
Big Stone Gap, VA: October 15, Mountain Empire Community College
The atmosphere was slightly more subdued, but still tense. After Charleston, certain individuals had chosen to be Peace Keepers, and circulated the crowd ready to step in if needed. Before the hearing I talked to John Adams, a Wise County coal miner for almost 40 years. He wore an ‘I Love Mountains’ pin proudly fastened next to the ‘Friends of Coal’ logo on the black t-shirt over his orange miner’s stripes. After the angry altercations at the Charleston hearing, I was apprehensive, but Adams’ friendly, lined face seemed approachable and kind and I asked if we could talk for a few minutes. “What, you wanna talk to a dirty ol’ strip miner?” I stumbled, not knowing how to respond. “Nah, I’m just teasing ya treehugger,” he said, “We’re all friends here, and if I got a problem with my friend, I’m gonna sit down and talk to him about it. What do you wanna know?” Read the full interview with John Adams.
In the auditorium, The Friends of Coal far outnumbered the environmental contingent, and few were as respectful as Mr. Adams. Politicians were asked to address the Army Corps panel first, and VA Senator Phil Puckett whipped the pro-mountain top removal crowd into a frenzy. He raised his voice and his fist, hollering that “suspending NWP 21 will devastate our region… If you put before me whats important to our people here, I choose the jobs and what people need to provide a living for their families!” The crowd was standing and cheering before the speech even ended, waving black caps emblazoned with white “YES COAL” logos.
Though the USACE officer asked before the hearing that dignity and respect be shown for all speakers, the crowd was barely controlled throughout the five hour hearing. It took perhaps an hour, but the Lieutenant receiving public commentary eventually required a boisterous group within the pro-surface mining contingent – this group was shouting viciously and inappropriately over the voices of any speaker who called for an end to NWP21 – to be quiet.
It was heartening to see that the Corps gave every person who wished to speak the opportunity, and encouraged them to do so. Those who could not complete statements in three short minutes were offered the chance to leave any additional written material they had for further review. The entire audience was repeatedly reminded that commentary on NWP21 would continue to be received and considered until October 26, 2009. The Corps attempted to collect contact information from everyone in attendance, for the purpose of keeping attendees abreast of the issue in the future.
Footage from Big Stone Gap
What’s Next?
You would be hard pressed to find a person in attendance at any of the hearings who did not appreciate that the Corps made an effort to hear his or her comments regarding the permitting process. Time and again commentators on all sides of the issue began their statements with words such as “I’d like to first thank the Corps for being here to listen.” Part of this gratitude extended from the fact that attendees were keenly aware that the Corps has the power to eliminate these permits without the input of those who will be affected.
Rather than acting with excessive presumption or haste, the Corps should be commended on this occasion for inviting dialogue, multiple perspectives, and a desire to understand the interests of all stakeholders into the decision making process. It is an ironic injustice that so many coalfield residents whose livelihoods are negatively impacted by mountaintop removal coal mining are not afforded the same opportunity because of the very permits coal companies are fighting to keep. If NWP21 is eliminated, mining companies will still be able to practice the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining that is deteriorating Appalachian communities prospects of a well-deserved, healthy and prosperous future. However, the individual permit process will give those whose lives are affected greater opportunity to appeal to their fellow community members’ and representatives’ reason and humanity.
John Adams has been mining coal in southwest Virginia for almost 40 years. I met him in the hallway outside the auditorium where the Big Stone Gap hearing was being held. He wore an ‘I Love Mountains’ pin proudly fastened next to the ‘Friends of Coal’ logo on the black t-shirt he wore over his orange miner’s stripes. After the angry altercations at the Charleston hearing, I was apprehensive, but Adams’ friendly, lined face reminded me of a favorite uncle; he seemed approachable and kind and I asked if we could talk for a few minutes. “What, you wanna talk to a dirty ol’ strip miner?” Totally thrown, I stumbled a bit. “Nah, I’m just teasing ya treehugger,” he said, “We’re all friends here, and if I got a problem with my friend, I’m gonna sit down and talk to him about it. What do you wanna know?”
Mr. Adams firmly believes that mountain top removal doesn’t harm the environment. “Environmental development, that’s what were doing,” he said. “The hills around here are so steep, your options are either to strip and level, or build out a place at a huge construction cost.” To him, the land leveled by mountain top removal offers significant opportunity for economic development. As we’re talking about this, he stops another Friend of Coal leaving the hospitality room. “Hey, tell this reporter about those subdivisions! High dollar, ain’t they? For doctors and lawyers, rich folks, right?” His friend nodded, “Oh yeah, definitely nice places up there. Reclaimed that site, you should look at that one. Wild turkeys and deer all around, too.” Adams says “that’s the problem, right there. You only bring people up here and show ’em the worst part of the worst mine they got. You don’t show ’em where we’ve turned the site into something good.”
If he hadn’t been turned into a miner, Mr. Adams said he would have been a paleontologist. His prized possession is a T-Rex claw found in Montana. He speaks of it in a big-fish-story kind of way, describing its curve and gleam and throwing in a few little-known facts about the awesome dinosaur. But, with what he calls a “barely high school” education, paleontology eluded him and mining kind of absorbed him; his family had done it, and with little alternate options, he fell into it as well. “Sure we should have diversified our economy,” he said, “but why didn’t we think of that 40 years ago?” Now it is how it is, and there are scant alternate options to turn to. Mr. Adams took his pay stub out of the pocket of his blue coveralls and ripped off the perforated edges. “I’ll show you this, and you can write this down.” The year-to-date total of his salary is $68, 307.13, and is flanked by a respectable 401-k and 12 remaining vacation days. “You tell me one other place around here I can make that. Economically depressed? Maybe, but its the coal that’s keepin’ us going. When you’re getting everything in the world taken away from you, like we feel, you’re gonna get angry. Without something to drive our economy, our economy don’t run.”
I ask what he will do when the coal runs out, when there is nothing left to mine. “Everything is finite,” he says, “but if its gonna run out anyway, why not just go ahead and get it all?” He sees the government’s attempt to regulate mining as simply an attack on personal rights, and says “Mr. Obama wants to take everything away from us.” We talk a bit more and head off in separate directions. Registration is starting for those who want to speak at the hearing, and he wants to get in line. He gives me a one-track CD called “Hey Tree Hugger” and tells me with a genuine smile and squeeze of the shoulder that I should give it a sharp listen. He points out a young miner named Doug and tells me he’s a gentlemen, single, and got twenty head of horses and a nice little farm, and that I should definitely introduce myself to him. Later on, right before the hearing starts, I’m standing outside the backdoor right past the “Tree Hugger’ hospitality room. Adams come out with his coat slung over his arm and a bowl of chili and cornbread. “Leaving before the party starts?” I ask. “That’s what happens when you’re a papaw; somebody always needs you.” He throws me a wink and gestures to his bowl: “We got better sodas in our room, but your side definitely has better chili.”
Thanks to the talented Chad Stevens for his tireless work that has created this powerful new 20 minute film, a collaboration between Yale Environment 360 and MediaStorm.
WASHINGTON — Burning fossil fuels costs the United States about $120 billion a year in health costs, mostly because of thousands of premature deaths from air pollution, the National Academy of Sciences reported in a study issued Monday.
The damages are caused almost equally by coal and oil, according to the study, which was ordered by Congress. The study set out to measure the costs not incorporated into the price of a kilowatt-hour or a gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel.
Safety of Dozens of Citizens Threatened at “Public Hearing”
Pro-coal groups and mountaintop removal coal mining opponents verbally clashed at a hearing on the Army Corps of Engineers’ NW21 permits Wednesday night in Charleston, W.Va. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of coal industry supporters rallied to outnumber mountaintop removal opponents, and heckled and yelling threats to individuals who came to present their case against mountaintop removal coal mining; some reports included elbowing, pushing and other physical forms of intimidation (view a video and read testimonials from citizens present at the event), and most were prevented from speaking at the hearing. Both the Charleston Daily Mail and the Charleston Gazette covered the event. According to a blog post by Ken Ward, the Corps claims that the hearing was “conducted in an orderly fashion.”
Jackson Claims Coal “Can Be Mined Safely and Cleanly”
In other Obama Administration news, according to an article also by Ken Ward in the Charleston Gazette, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson defended her agency’s scrutiny of mountaintop removal while claiming to have no desire to end coal mining, amid growing pressure from coalfield political leaders and the mining industry. During a Congressional committee meeting, Jackson stated: “Neither EPA nor I personally have any desire to end coal mining, have any hidden agenda, any agenda whatsoever that has to do with coal mining as an industry….I believe coal can be mined safely and cleanly. I believe it can be done in a way that minimizes impacts to water quality.”
ACCCE Back In The News
As reported today by Kate Shepard in her Mother Jones blog post, the hearing scheduled to investigate the role of Bonner & Associates and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity in the forged anti-climate bill letters sent to Congress was postponed until next week. Read Shepard’s full report.
Shepard’s post also mentioned a new report out by Politico outlining the ACCCE budget on astoturfing and lobbying efforts for the past 18 months – a cool $10 million.
Light on the Horizon for Marsh Fork School
To end on a positive note, Jeff Biggers reports on Huffington Post that yesterday evening in Coal River, W.Va., the Raleigh County School Board met with local citizens and announced its intention to ask the state for funds to construct a new school for March Fork Elementary. Marsh Fork School—which sits immediately below a 2.8 billion gallon coal sludge impoundment and a mountaintop removal mining site and adjacent to a dusty coal silo—has been at the center of a series of rallies and campaigns from local residents and mountaintop removal coal mining opponents, who have worked for over five years to obtain a new school for the children.
On October 13, 2009, The Army Corps of Engineering hosted one of six hearing on the proposed suspension of Nationwide Permits 21 permits on mountaintop removal in Charleston, WV. Tonight, hearings are also occurring in Pittsburgh, PA, Big Stone Gap, VA and Cambridge, OH, and citizens are concerned for their safety at these hearings as well.
At the Charleston, WV hearing, lack of respect for public safety as well as lack of proper planning created an extremely dangerous situation and prohibited many people from attending or speaking at the hearing. There was no removal of those people who were disrupting the event and there was no serious reprimand of those who were disrupting the event. The Army Corps did not act to prevent this disruption of free speech.
Before the hearings, the Army Corps and local police were contacted by residents concerned for their safety. Clearly these concerns were not taken seriously.
Citizens who were endangered are calling again upon Governor Joe Manchin and other prominent state officials to publicly reprimand those responsible for creating this dangerous environment and perform a full inquiry into propaganda from the coal industry of other entities that may have contributed to this violent situation. Previous pleas to the governor and industry and political leaders have gone ignored. Instead, inflammatory rhetoric has increased.
Those attending noted that many claims of the coal industry and supporters were extremely exaggerated or simply untrue. This appears to be the result of a national fear campaign which is impeding progress in the state of West Virginia and endangering the lives of citizens. The issues which impact those who live near mountaintop removal are serious and devastating, and those facing these issues should receive a safe atmosphere to address them.
It was noted that in West Virginia, the Federal Court decision under Judge Goodwin all but ended the use of NWP 21 for valley in southern WV where the Huntington Corps regulates such activities. Therefore, it is likely that none of those threatening on behalf of the coal industry had jobs that were in any way impacted by the outcome of the hearing.
Following are a few representative statements from citizens who attended the hearing, each are available for comment or follow up interviews.
From Danny Chiotos, Organizer, The Student Environmental Action Coalition:
I was inside the Army Corps of Engineers Public Hearing on the repeal of Nationwide Permit 21 from 5:30 to 9:30. I am somewhat hesitant to call it a Public hearing because Mountaintop Removal supporters actively prevented us from giving comments and actively prevented people who came at 6:30 or after from waiting in line to enter the building. From what I experienced inside the building and saw outside the building, the Mountaintop Removal industry’s actions were a direct and successful attack on our ability to participate in this Hearing.
I saw Mountaintop Removal supporters shout as loud as they could through every single anti-mountaintop removal speaker. For example, they shouted through Vivian Stockman’s comments and then when the Army Corps gave her 15 extra seconds to speak, the MTR Supporters shouted a countdown of “15-14-13…3-2-1”. They awarded her an additional 30 seconds after that where she tried to put together a statement, but there continued to be intentional disruption of her comments. When I got up to speak, I spoke of my love of my country and my love of our values of democracy. I had to shout this and the rest of my comments into the microphone so that I could hear myself speak over the crowd.
The Army Corps of Engineers does hard and good work, but the way this Hearing was handled allowed the Mountaintop Removal Supporters to prevent both sides from being heard. There were many many many many times during the event that the MTR supporters were asked to be quiet – but none of those requests were honored. There was no removal of those people who were disrupting the event and there was no serious reprimand of those who were disrupting the event. The Army Corps should have had a swifter and more serious response at the beginning of the event to prevent this kind of disruption of all of our free speech from happening.
While I was in a conversation, the MTR supporters repeatedly shoulder shoved me to get me to move.
Outside of the building, the situation was even more serious. There was a crowd of 500 or so Mountaintop Removal supporters who physically and verbally threatened those on our side who were trying to patiently wait in line. Many people who would have waited in line to enter and give their comments (as people left from inside) were forced to leave, infringing on their freedom to participate in this event. My girlfriend and her step-father were outside, about to enter the building when their lives and safety was threatened. At 7:49 PM I received a text message from her that said, “They [MTR Supporters] are screaming at us Said theyd string us from trees One had to be restrained for attacking us We werent responding They [the police] said it was easier to make us leave than to make them [MTR Supporters] stop We were next in line to get in.” The person who had to be restrained from attacking her took three police officers to hold him back. When I went to the police to alert them to the situation, they threatened to kick me out. I got a similar call from friends who were trying to wait to get in but were unsafe from the attitude of the mob-like crowd. This happened time and time again that evening.
When I left the building with a small crowd of friends under police escort, which was necessary because we were getting reports of threats and violence from the MTR supporters outside, there were repeated threats and obscenities hurled at me.
The response of the police was to punish our attempts to voice our opinions. The City of Charleston’s police did all they could to respond to the situation and I know that they were trying to maintain safety as much as possible and I respect them. The police also did a great job of escorting me and other anti-mountaintop removal speakers through the crowd outside to the safety of our cars, which was necessary. The decision on the number of officers present and the decision to allow the MTR supporters to assemble directly in front of the entrance to the Civic Center were poor ones, though. There needed to be more police on hand to keep order. The impression, which I’m not sure is true, of the police’s goal was to maintain safety by doing everything that they could to ensure that the MTR supporters’ crowd kept from rioting (from where I stood it seemed like they were really close to significant violence).
The placement of the crowd of MTR supporters was a serious mistake as well. This crowd should have been kept away from the main entrance to the Civic Center or there should have been another entrance opened up. The MTR supporters definitely have the right to protest, but their rally should have been kept at a respectful distance from the entrance to the building. The reality that the response to the threats of the MTR supporters’ crowd was to remove anti-MTR citizens and prevent them from participating in this event speaks to the fact that this was not a “public” or “safe” event.
This is a serious issue on the protections of our right to free speech and our right to safety. With the increasingly threatening and mob-like atmosphere that surrounds the MTR Supporters’ crowd, the Police who we rely on to maintain safety have to be ready in force to maintain safety.
From Chuck Nelson, Glen Daniel, West Virginia:
There were about ten of us, we were the last group leaving from inside. We were waiting to give our comments when word was brought back in about what was happening outside. As we talked with each of our group inside, things just kept getting more crazy. We decided to leave then as a group, and proceeded to make our departure.
Insults were hurled at us as we were leaving, with a bunch of thugs following. Once in the lobby, I went directly to a Charleston city officer, and requested an escort to our vehicles, with an angry group outside the doors. The officer told me, that we should have known what was going to happen when we came there. He did escort us to the front doors, and told Ben, as we were leaving, “You are on your own.”
We made our way outside, only to be met with more insults — that followed us practically all the way to our vehicles. We made calls on our phones, and tried to make sure that everyone was all right.
I wondered where the state troopers were, not one was ever visible. I wonder, how in the world can the Army Corps make a decision on an important permit, when they can’t even conduct a proper, and peaceful hearing?
From Dana Kuhnline, Charleston, WV
I had to leave early and didn’t see any point in speaking anyway. I had left my bag in my friend’s car, so he waited in the lobby while I dashed out to the car, got my bag, and went to return the keys. He wasn’t at the door when I got back and so I texted him; the police wouldn’t let me in to return them. While I stood there waiting for him to return, the mob folk thought I was trying to get into the hearing and were screaming and pulling at my bag. They got a rousing chant of “Go Home!” started which was ironic, because of course their antics were preventing me from doing so. The Police officer wouldn’t let me inside to wait for my friend even though I was being threatened, pushed and stepped on. When my friend came back and grabbed the keys, the police officer said, “Do me a favor, for your own personal safety, leave as soon as you can, don’t try to engage these people in conversation”
I was a little dumbfounded, but didn’t have the presence of mind to ask for a police escort. So I turned to leave, and someone was stomping my feet and pushing me really hard so that I flew forward into a few miners. I turned to see who it was and it was a lady holding a little baby! She had another woman as her back up and they were both screaming in my face, and trying to pick a fight about why I would attack a little baby. I looked at her and said, “You pushed me with your baby?” and walked away.
As I moved through the crowd, people deliberately blocked my path pushed me and pulled on my bag. I made it through the main crowd and maybe 3-4 people tried to get in a screaming match with me, but I did my best to ignore them.
From Charles Suggs, Rock Creek, WV
I knew that they weren’t letting anyone else into the hearing, so I stayed on the edge of the crowd, keeping distance between myself and most people.
Three people, who have been calling for the abolition of mountaintop removal, were backed up against the entrance doors by the mob crowd who was shouting many things at them, including death threats. The three started to make their way along the wall, moving left with the doors at their backs. Zoe Beavers and a few others joined them.
I was still around the edge of the crowd, but noticed that things were heating up by the wall to the side of the doors and started that way to see what exactly was happening. A well dressed, plain-clothes officer then came up and told me I had to leave for my safety and the safety of his officers.
Beavers was talking with a school teacher whose husband is a miner. The teacher was yelling and getting the mob more riled up. An officer came over and ordered Beavers to follow him well out of the crowd. He forbade her from re-entering the crowd and said that she’d be arrested and booked for disturbing the peace if she did. The most peaceful people in the crowd were threatened with arrest for disturbing the peace.
Four more people opposed to mountaintop removal arrived after we were escorted out by the police and were also subjected to insults and spitting. One person, who was attempting to leave, was surrounded by shoulder-to-shoulder mountaintop removal supporters who were shouting “You’re not getting out of here.” She couldn’t get out until she yelled for a cop to get her out of there.
Only opponents of mountaintop removal were asked to leave who, despite the shouting and aggression from the mob, remained quite peaceful. And they were asked to leave for disturbing the peace. Some democratic, public hearing that was.
From Vernon Haltom, Co-Director, Coal River Mountain Watch:
I went to the Charleston, WV, hearing hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers, but was unable to get in and give comments because the place was full. This was after enduring a gauntlet of coal cult thugs hurling every insult imaginable at me and the people who came with me to see and listen. Although a few other people and I were in line and had filled out the registration forms to give comments, the Charleston police made us go out of the building where we were surrounded by more thugs pushing against us, threatening our lives, and again hurling insults. Our group included an eighty-year-old woman enduring 300-pound thugs screaming obscenities within three feet of her ears.
After 15 minutes or so of this shameful display, the Charleston police required us to leave. Because it was easier to control a group of 6 or 7 peaceful people than a mob of hundreds of violence prone thugs, and because the police did not want any of us or the police to get hurt, they escorted us off the premises.
Essentially, police inability to control the mob resulted in our inability to give verbal comments. While the building was full, we were prepared to enter once a few people left, but the police removed us from our place in line and removed us from the premises while the insult-hurlers were allowed to stay.
Our friends inside the hearing were able to give comments, but were drowned out by the mob. When they complained to the hearing moderators, they were told the clock was ticking. When they left, the police refused to escort the last small group to their vehicles, forcing them to run the gauntlet without protection. The police said, “You all knew what you were getting into; you’re on your own,” or a similar reply when asked for escort to cars.
The TV news channels didn’t show this side of the night, and no one from the pro-mountain side appeared on TV. Instead, the TV news interviewed coal supporters and implied there was no one from our side giving testimony.
From one of the hearings, news coverage showed one of the Corps of Engineers people saying, essentially, “This is democracy working.” This was not democracy working. It was a mob intimidating both the Charleston police and the US Army, as well as the peaceful citizens who came to give comments to protect their homes, live, and communities.
Please welcome two new Congressmen who realize the importance of protecting our water and stopping mountaintop removal coal mining!
Congressman Steve Driehaus is from the 1st District of Ohio and signed on as a cosponsor on October 1, 2009. Mary Rita Cooper and Robert Nienbar from Cincinnati went to visit the Congressman himself during the August recess and asked him to cosponsor the HR 1310, the Clean Water Protection Act. And the people prevailed! Good job, Mary Rita and Bob! He is our 6th cosponsor from Ohio.
Congressman Steve Kagen Wisconsin’s 8th District and signed on as a cosponsor to the Clean Water Protection Act on September 30th. Mr. Kagen serves on the Agriculture, and the Transportation & Infrastructure committee. Rep. Kagen is the 16th cosponsor in the Water and Environmental Resources subcommittee, and the 25th member of the Transportation & Infrastructure committee to cosponsor the Clean Water Protection Act.
“More than 200 people living in Prenter Hollow in Boone County are suing nine coal companies, claiming toxic coal slurry has seeped into their private water wells making some of them sick, even killing some of their neighbors. The coal companies adamantly deny the charges. ”
Just last night, we confirmed reports that Massey Energy has begun blasting on Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has stated that the mining operation on the mountain is “actively moving coal.” Workers were seen throughout this past week moving heavy equipment up to the mining zones, and blasting and plumes of smoke were seen and heard near the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment on Friday.
On Coal River Mountain, less than 100 yards from where the mining has begun, lies the Brushy Fork 
