Climate Action » Coal River Mountain

Coal River Mountain Treesitter Pens Letter from Jail

Suzanne Bopp — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:35:27 +0000

The following is from Eric Blevins, one of the recent Coal River Mountain treesitters. His hearing is currently scheduled for Feb. 23.

I wrote this letter to the editor to the Beckley paper while in jail and told it to someone over the phone who sent it to them for me. They didn’t print it in their next issue and I doubt they printed it after that, but I thought you might like to read it:

This is in response to the article in Saturday’s paper about Amber and I coming down from our tree sit and the letter about paid, outsider environmentalists who support the EPA, which I read while sitting in the Southern Regional Jail.

I am not an outsider. I am an Appalachian. Virginia-based Massey Energy is an outsider. The people who live in the mountains and work on the mine sites work harder, longer hours and make less money than those who work at Massey’s headquarters in Richmond. All the people here should control how the land around them is used and they should profit the most from it, not people in an office far away who aren’t as impacted by the decisions they make that destroy our mountains.

I and most activists I know are not paid. We are volunteers. Groups like Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero help raise funds for legal fees and action supplies, but don’t pay people. Their money is donated by people who support the abolishment of mountaintop removal. They have budgets of just a few thousand dollars each. Massey has billions of dollars. They recently laid off workers and raised CEO Don Blankenship’s salary.

I and most activists I know do not support the EPA. They are not doing enough to stop the destruction of our mountains. While they review permits, the explosions are still going off in our home every day.

I climbed a tree to defend God’s beautiful divine creations: the people who live below the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment being threatened with imminent death by the blasting, the plants and animals being slaughtered, Coal River Mountain, our air and our water. The actions of my friends and I were nonviolent and defensive. Massey’s actions are violent and offensive. They blasted air horns and sirens at us in the trees almost nonstop for days on end. They have said that 998 people will die if the dam there fails, yet they set off explosives near it. It is an unlined earthen dam and those fail, like the one operated by TVA near my home in Tennessee that spilled 1.6 billion gallons of coal waste just over a year ago, practically destroying an entire community. Brush Fork holds back over 7 billion gallons, for now. It may not hold it back much longer if we don’t stop the blasting.

Treesitters Come Down

Suzanne Bopp — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:55:31 +0000

The treesit on Coal River Mountain, which was Climate Ground Zero’s most sustained intervention in mountaintop removal mining operations since its campaign of nonviolent direct action began last February, ended over the weekend after nine days.

In a final communication from her tree, one of the two remaining protesters, Amber Nitchman, 19, captured the group’s resolve, saying “It’s not over until the blasting is stopped.”

Both treesitters are still in jail, being held for a combined cash-only total of $5,000.

Climate Ground Zero is asking for donations to raise the bail money and to help them continue their fight against mountaintop removal.

West Virginia Treesitters Still in Trees

Suzanne Bopp — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:01:30 +0000

Two protesters remain in the trees on Coal River Mountain, blocking Massey Energy from continuing to blow up the mountaintop. The company has been attempting to dislodge them by blasting air horns and shining floodlights on them at night. Earlier this week, a man attempting to bring supplies to the protesters was arrested.

Yesterday, West Virginia Governor Manchin met with several representatives from the Climate Ground Zero campaign. The governor had requested the meeting himself, and he asked the protesters to scale down their campaign and de-escalate the situation. Today the treesitters are still there.

For much more on the story, check out the post at It’s Getting Hot in Here.

Protesters Halt Mountaintop Blasting In West Virginia

Suzanne Bopp — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:11:00 +0000

Armed with banners reading “Save Coal River Mountain” and EPA Stop the Blasting,” protestors halted blasting on Coal River Mountain today with a five-person tree-sit.

The protesters, associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice, are on platforms approximately 60 feet up two tulip poplar trees and one oak tree next to where Massey Energy is blasting to build an access road.

The protesters are calling for the EPA to put an end to mountaintop removal mining; they also hope to urge land-holding companies to focus on clean energy options. They plan to remain in the trees until blasting on Coal River Mountain is stopped permanently. Climate Ground Zero’s action campaign, which began in February of last year, has kept up a sustained series of direct actions ever since.