Gazette photo by Lawrence Pierce
Vicki Smith from The Associated Press has the story:
MAMMOTH, W.Va. (AP) — Only a handful of hecklers and angry motorists met a group of gray-haired environmental activists Monday as they finished a five-day, 25-mile march to protest mountaintop removal mining and arrived at a Massey Energy coal complex.
At a roadside press conference with a speaker on the hood of a car, they declared a small victory. If nothing else, they said, they spread awareness of a particularly destructive form of strip mining that they believe is destroying lives and communities across Appalachia.
“It showed a lot of people can do something, even senior citizens,” said Climate Ground Zero activist James McGuinness, 53, of Rock Creek. “A lot of people are over 80 that came out and did this. I think it’s incredible they walked the entire way and stood up for themselves and said, ‘This has got to end.”’
Fifteen senior citizens between 50 and 83 carried signs and banners, some leaning on canes and walking sticks, as they trudged along U.S. 60 with a half-dozen younger supporters toward the Mammoth Coal Co. mine.
“We are the keepers of the mountains,” their shirts read. “Love them or leave them. Just don’t destroy them.”
Though many passing motorists honked and waved in support, hostile messages became more frequent as they neared the mine. One coal truck driver screamed “Get a job!” as he passed, while another laid on the horn and made obscene gestures.
Still, McGuinness said, reaction throughout the journey was generally mild.
“I think that people were very respectful on both sides. We didn’t have a lot of hassle on the walk, and that’s the way it should be,” he said. “Everybody should be able to have the right to say what they believe in.”
Mountain Justice, Intergenerational Justice and Christians for the Mountains also supported the walk. All year long, environmentalists have been staging acts of civil disobedience aimed at stopping mountaintop removal, most targeting Virginia-based Massey.
Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater said targeting the Mammoth Coal operation was an interesting choice.
“Massey has not surface mined at Mammoth Coal,” he said in an e-mail. “I am sure there are other companies with surface mines along their route from Charleston to Mammoth that they chose not to protest.”
The marchers’ route did take them past several mountaintop jobs, including the Samples Mine, once the largest in the state. Owner Patriot Coal Co. announced in August it was shutting it down.
Mountaintop removal is a form of strip mining that involves blasting apart ridge tops to expose multiple seams of coal, dumping debris into valleys and flattening what had been peaks.
Massey and other coal companies say it’s the only way to reach some reserves, and they argue they reclaim the land so it can be developed for commercial or other uses.
Critics, however, say the land is ruined forever, and that both people and property suffer from the rock, dust and vibrations that accompany blasting.
The march was organized by 81-year-old Roland Micklem of Savannah, N.Y., and involved 28 people between ages 50 and 88, some of whom Micklem struggled to keep up with.
“We got some serious geezers here,” he said with a laugh. “These guys can truck.”
“We didn’t have any unpleasant surprises,” Micklem said. “We didn’t expect to have flowers strewn in our paths or anything like that. And we’ve got equal responses of negative and positive, I’d say.”
Micklem nodded at a handful of miners who watched from behind a chain link fence and said he wished he could talk with them about the need to transition from coal to cleaner sources of energy.
“I respect those guys,” he said. “They work hard. It’s dangerous.”
Most marchers were from out of state, including 62-year-old Sue Rosenberg of Saugerties, N.Y., who said she was inspired by the beauty that the activists are trying to protect. Her son has been in West Virginia for 18 months to fight mountaintop removal mining.
“He has said, and I share his belief, that if our Catskill Mountains were being blasted away, I would hope that my friends and neighbors would fight against that destruction,” she said. “And I would hope that people from West Virginia would come and help us.”
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[...] aged 50 to 88, concluded a 25 mile march to protest mountain top removal coal mining today. Read Coal Tattoo for the full story of this heroic [...]
[...] people between ages 50 and 88 finished a five-day, 25-mile march to protest mountaintop removal mining when they arrived at a Massey Energy coal complex [...]
Isnt it interesting that they chose a Massey complex that doesnt surface mine one pound of coal. Also interesting is that in the above picture the only car shown just so happens to have New York plates.
Scott 14, I don’t know why you are so bent out of shape over the car with New York plates on it. The article stated clearly that there were folks from New York in that march.
Around here there are apartments that have had cars from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama parked in their parking lots. Those guys came in here to work the MTR sites. The locals were not hired to work the jobs of blowing up our mountains. These people work during the week and then every couple of weeks they would all go to their homes out of state. I have seen that with my own eyes.
I don’t know at times people have yelled out of their truck windows telling me to go home, then when they pass THEY have out of state licenses on their vehicles. It is ridiculous.
The pro coal folks yell and holler about out of state people coming in here to try to help stop this madness, but the coal industry imports people to come in here to destroy our mountains, homes and communities.
Which is worse?
I must have been working on several minesites,that are rare according to your comments,nanette.they may have been driving company vehicles with virginia or kentucky plates,but there are west virginians driving them.i haven’t talk to an employee that has lived out of this state,unless they were inspecting their operations,not saying there isn’t any, but that is a rare case.
My husband and I want to say thank you to those who marched to spread awareness of what mountaintop removal is doing to the mountains, the environment, and to the people who live there. The destruction and poisoning must stop and in order for that to happen more people has to know what is happening. Also, thank you all for publishing and getting the truth out!