16 arrested while attempting to deliver demands to Massey

photo by Vivian Stockman with OHVEC

16 People were arrested for their participation in a peaceful protest in Sundial, West Virginia today. Residents of the Coal River Valley are fighting for the very lives of their children, whose Elementary School is under attack from the callous Mountaintop Removal mining operations of Massey Energy. Coal dust from a coal prep plant only 150 feet from the school enters through air intake vents, causing asthma and other respiratory problems, and coating everything with a toxic black powder. There are currently 228 students at Marsh Fork Elementary School. One student reported that when it rained a plastic covering was put over the drinking fountain so that they did not drink from it, but nothing is being done to protect these students from toxic air.

A leaking coal sludge dam containing 2.8 Billion Gallons of toxic waste-- laden with mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and other toxins and heavy metals-- is only 400 yards from the elementary school and could burst at any minute killing everyone in its path, and wreaking havoc for hundreds of miles downstream.

Get more background information

United Mine Workers Association songs about Massey being a bad neighbor

5 local residents, including parents and grandparents of children attending the Elementary School solemnly crossed a bridge onto Massey property, attempting to deliver a list of demands to officials, and were arreseted. Then, waves of supporters, in a beautiful act of solidarity, followed across the bridge with the same list of demands.

Coal River Valley residents' demands

• That Massey shut down the prep plant and cease its Mountaintop Removal mining above the school Immediately;
  
• That Marsh Fork Elementary School be cleaned up or that a safe, new school be built in their community;
  
• That Massey withdraw its application for the second coal loading silo behind the school;
  
• That Massey stop blasting their homes because residents have a right to be safe and secure;
  
• And that Massey shut down its surface mine sites and invest in true sustainable energy.

These 2 photographs were taken by Bo Webb of CRMW

Those arrested were Amy Wendell, 30, Asheville, N.C.; Inez Gallimore, 82, Naoma; Patricia Feeney, 22, Chelsea, Ala.; Mary O'Farrell, 56, Charleston; Janice Nease, 68, Poca; Debra Jarrell, 46, Rock Creek; Constance Sisk, 19, Naoma; Jordan Freeman, 21, Naoma; Brian Bernhardt, 22, Annandale, Va.; Katie Clark, 20, Annandale, Va.; Larry Gibson, 59, Dawes; Zach Noel, 22, Florida, Mass.; Shane Andrews, no age available, Raleigh, N.C.; John Johnson, 34, Knoxville, Tenn.; Abigail Singer, 25, Knoxville, Tenn.; Robert Russo, 23, Asheville, N.C.

Your generous contribution is Urgently Needeed and Greatly Appreciated! This is an urgent issue, because, as Ed Wiley, grandfather of a Marsh Fork Elementary student explained, "What Massey Energy is doing to these children and this community is nothing short of terrorism. The kids live in fear, but we shouldn't let Massey drive us out of our homeland. We should have the same rights as any other American citizen."

Background

Massey Energy owns Goals Coal Company, which operates a coal preparation plant, loading silo, and coal sludge impoundment (essentially a toxic waste storage facility) pointed directly at the K-5th grade school. There is also a 1,849-acre strip and mountaintop removal site directly above the sludge dam.

At the rally at the same site on Tuesday, May 24, two Coal River Valley residents were arrested when they refused to leave Massey premises. They had a list of demands to present to the plant superintendent, but were refused admittance.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing Thursday, May 26, at 6:00 p.m. at the school in Sundial. At the hearing, the DEP allowed the residents, many of whom were elderly and in poor health, only two minutes each to voice their concerns over the silo and also over the renewal of Massey's permit to operate the waste facility, a 2.8 billion-gallon earthen dam whose base is 400 yards from school grounds. Many participants in the Mountain Justice campaign also spoke passionately in support of the students and against the prep-plant and sludge dam. Despite residents' earlier protests, in 2004 the DEP approved Massey's permit to operate a 1,849-acre mountaintop removal site around the waste facility above the school.

Mountain Justice (MJ) seeks to add to the growing anti-MTR citizens movement. Specifically MJ demands an abolition of MTR, steep slope strip mining and all other forms of surface mining for coal. We want to protect the cultural and natural heritage of the Appalachia coal fields. We want to contribute with grassroots organizing, public education, nonviolent civil disobedience and other forms of citizen action.

Historically coal companies have engaged in violence and property destruction when faced with citizen opposition to their activities. MJ is committed to nonviolence and will not be engaged in property destruction

For more information, contact:

photos from Paul Nelson member of CRMW unless otherwise named

Charleston Daily Mail (from the AP nationwide)

State Police arrest 16 at Massey site

WHITESVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- State Police arrested 16 people Tuesday and cited them for trespassing at Massey Energy's Goals Coal processing facility.

The 16 were part of about 150 environmentalists protesting at the plant, said Sgt. Wayne Vessels.

The group wants Massey to close the preparation plant, which is adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School; clean up the school or build a new one in their community; withdraw an application for a second coal loading silo behind the school; and halt blasting operations near their homes.

The protesters marched from the elementary school to the plant and crossed onto Massey property.

"They were warned several times by the security guys from the Massey headquarters. Of course, we had our guys there. We asked them to please step back. They had a list of demands to present. They went ahead and presented their list of demands, and they refused to leave,'' Vessels said.

The 16 were handcuffed and taken to the Whitesville State Police detachment, where they were given citations and released, Vessels said. Vessels did not have a list of names, but said one woman was 80 years old, one was from Alabama, another from Tucson, Ariz., and some were local residents.

Among those 16 people was Debbie Jarrell, 46, of Rock Creek, whose 10-year-old granddaughter attends the school. Jarrell was concerned about Massey's plans to build the second silo near the school.

"I don't understand how anyone in their right mind could even bring that to the table, to think about being that close to the kids,'' she said. "It looms over top of this elementary school, and they're wanting another one.

"I want the kids to have a safe environment to learn in.''

A Massey spokesperson did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on Tuesday.

AP-ES-05-31-05 1703EDT

News-Standard (New York)
Mountaintop Removal Protests Continue

Jun 1 - For the second time in as many weeks, activists and concerned citizens rallied yesterday outside a West Virginia coal processing facility to protest the actions of a company that conducts a highly profitable form of strip mining increasingly recognized as being irrevocably damaging to the environment.

The protesters demanded that the company, Massey Energy, cease operations at a facility near an elementary school in Sundial, WV and either pay to clean the school grounds or fund the construction of a new one.

Police estimated the crowd at around 150 people, sixteen of whom they arrested for trespassing. Two people were arrested at a similar protest last Tuesday.

The plant, called Goals Coal, processes, stores and handles coal and coal sludge. Activists term it a "toxic waste storage facility" and say they are committed to continuing the protests until Massey and the state act to clean the area and put an end to mountaintop removal mining operations near the town. They are also seeking to halt plans for the construction of a second storage silo on the same site

As many coal extraction companies in the Appalachian and Ohio valleys do, Massey operates a nearby 1,849-acre mountaintop removal strip mine. The mining technique is coming under increasing scrutiny as environmentalists and scientists question the environmental impact of removing large tracts of mountain and forest to extract the minerals inside. The companies literally raze the mountaintops and push the rubble into the nearby valleys, often burying streams in the process. It is estimated that 500 square miles of forested mountains have been denuded permanently in the Ohio Valley area alone.

Headquartered in Richmond, VA, Massey Energy is the nation’s fourth largest coal producing company, according to a corporate press release.
--Brendan Coyne

© 2005 The NewStandard. See our reprint policy.

Posted 5/31/2005 05:19 PM
WVNS, West Virginia

State police arrest more anti-mountain top removalprotestors at a coal preparation plant in Raleigh County
Story by Jessica Quast Email

About 100 people gathered for a rally in front of MasseyEnergy's Goal Coal Company this afternoon.

This is the second rally and the second time protestors were arrested in front of the same plant in two weeks.

They say coal companies are stealing Appalachia... and they want your attention to stop Mountain Top Removal.... And some are prepared to march, protest, and yes even get arrested for their cause.

The protestors want Massey to close the preparation plant and clean up Marsh Fork Elementary school.

They also want Massey to stop blasting operations near their homes.

In all 16 people were arrested for trespassing.

Some are people living in Marsh Fork and surrounding areas.

Others are members of Mountain Justice- a grassroot group of young adults from the Appalachia region.

This was not a violent protest.

But members of MJ also say this will not be the last rally.

In fact, members tell me they plan to spend this summer making waves... fighting to save the mountains.

#####

To see more news coverage go to OHVEC news page

Insane Reporting on WWNR radio

We heard that WWNR News/Talk 620 radio talkshow host Steve O'Brien said yesterday on air "That those people down there fighting Massey at the MF school are just hoping the dam will fail so we can say we were right".

Here's the info to tell him what you think of him. Jay Quesenberry is the General Manager at this station and his email is jayq@radiocitywv.co and the phone number is 304-461-9250.

Feel free to email or call and voice your opinion about how insulting and misinformed this jerk radio host was yesterday.

Click here to see more actions.