Three activists from Climate Ground Zero halted a Massey Energy operation on Coal River Mountain today.  The sitters—Eric Blevins, 28, David Aaron Smith, 23, Amber Nitchman, 19—posted up in a few poplar and oak trees beside a road to a sludge impoundment that was under construction. 

Climate Ground Zero has particular misgivings about the mining operations on Massey’s Bee Tree site.  The blasting will occur within only a couple hundred feet of the Brushy Fork slurry impoundment, seriously stressing the already vulnerable dam.  The lives of 998 people depend on the Brushy Fork pond holding up.  Coal River Mountain also has a high value as a wind energy resource, but that opportunity would be erased by a strip mine. 

The sitters climbed up into the trees around dawn, according to Charles Suggs of CGZ.  They unfurled large banners, calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to end mountaintop amputation mining.  Two supporters, who were working as liaisons between the sitters, police, and workers were arrested and taken to Whitesville State Police Department. 

Massey Energy workers began illegally felling trees, outside of their permit boundary, to bring a cherry picker to get the protestors.  When CGZ called in the violation to the Department of Environmental Protection, however, the cherry picker was called off.  Tomorrow, a DEP inspector will come out to survey the permit boundary again.

The folks in the trees plan to stay up there as long as their provisions hold out. 

“It’s probably going to be a war of attrition,” said Suggs.

The demonstration has obviously created an expensive diversion for Massey on that site, even though they claim that it hasn’t affected their operation. 

(The treesitters on the edge of Massey property, earlier today.  Photo:  Climate Ground Zero.)

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