Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello in The Departed.

“When you decide to be something, you can be it. That’s what they don’t tell you in the church. When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I’m saying to you is this: when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?”

-Frank Costello, The Departed

What is the difference? I mean really, does it matter which side of the law you’re on when the end result is dead people? It sometimes baffles me, the legitimacy society grants to one group of people who go out and kill people through environmental and labor abuses, while deeming another group “illegitimate” because they kill people while operating in black markets dealing in gambling and drugs.

Case in point, one of last week’s big news stories was the capture of reputed Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, who eluded federal authorities for 16 years. Last week, the 81-year-old Bulger was found living somewhat openly in a Santa Monica apartment complex with his long-time partner Catherine Greig. Bulger ran various nefarious rackets in Boston for decades, is linked personally to at least 19 murders, and was also the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s character, Frank Costello, in Martin Scorcese’s 2006 crime drama, The Departed.

Whitey Bulger mug shot via newcriminologist.com

Then we turn to West Virginia, where this week’s news story has been the revelation that another criminal organization, Massey Energy, faked mining safety reports at the Upper Big Branch mine before the disaster. The company fabricated a set of reports to show mining inspectors while maintaining another set of reports showing actual hazards. The subsequent explosion that occurred on April 5, 2010 killed 29 miners (10 more people than Whitey Bulger is accused of killing.)

This revelation comes on top of the indictment a few months ago of Massey’s chief security officer, Hughie Elbert Stover, for obstructing federal investigators in the Upper Big Branch mining disaster. The FBI is also investigating Massey officials for criminal negligence and bribery of federal regulators.

The only different difference between Whitey’s Winter Hill Gang and Massey? Massey has a corporate charter and operated under full protection of the government, while Whitey had to hide all his business transactions from the FBI, the DEA, the IRS, etc., etc.

Don Blankenship photo via huffingtonpost.com

Massey’s former CEO and reputed mob boss Don Blankenship, an outspoken opponent of mining regulation and active GOP funder, did everything possible to avoid compliance and created a corporate culture to fight regulation at every turn. Blankenship flooded West Virginia’s political system with Massey dollars to manipulate state regulators. Blankenship owned West Virginia politicians like Joe Manchin. And he funded vacations to the French Riviera for himself and West Virginia State Supreme Court Justices to influence rulings on Massey related cases.

An independent investigation has revealed that West Virginia’s politicians were afraid of Massey’s strong arm-style tactics, and the company ignored safety regulations to increase profit.

Blankenship is an arch criminal responsible for the deaths of those 29 miners, the destruction of 500 mountains (plus many miles of forest and waterways) and harming local Appalachian communities with toxic waste, flyrock and refuse from mountaintop removal sites.

But what’s the difference between Blankenship and Whitey Bulger?

Society deems Bulger’s occupation as drug dealer, loanshark and contract killer as illegitimate while Blankenship’s status as a corporate CEO is legit regardless of how much misery he spread. As a result, Whitey Bulger is looking at life in prison and maybe even the death penalty, while Blankenship got a nice golden parachute.

The report found that poor ventilation and improper coal dust and methane monitoring caused a small spark to turn into a massive explosion.

Massey Energy, now being bought out by Alpha Natural Resources, had an outlaw corporate culture that derided federal safety laws and placed profit and coal production over worker safety.

Mcateer says:

“The disaster at Upper Big Branch was man-made and could have been prevented had Massey Energy followed basic, well-tested and historically proven safety procedures… Massey exhibited a corporate mentality that placed the drive to produce coal above worker safety.”

Former Massey CEO Don Blankenship spent decades breaking unions, waging war against federal regulators and corrupting local and state political systems. Blankenship announced his resignation in Dec. So far, one Massey executive has been indicted on federal charges. Hopefully more will follow, including Blankenship.

As a final kiss goodbye to Massey Energy, the coal industry has once again spit in the eye of everything we hold to be moral or ethical. The West Virginia Coal Association awarded Massey Energy with the “Mountaineer Guardian” Awards.

That’s right, the WV Coal Association considers the poster child of mountaintop removal and perpetrator of the death of their own 29 miners a “guardian” of their “mountaineers.”

Activist Paul Krassner described the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger as “The Death of Irony.” Massey Energy winning the “Mountaineer Guardian” award fits the same bill. Last year, through criminally negligent safety practices, Massey killed 29 miners in the Upper Big Branch mine. They regularly destroy Appalachia’s mountains through mountaintop removal. They can hardly be considered guardians of mountains or mountaineers.

Maybe they’ll nominate Don Blankenship for a Nobel Peace Prize next.

Don Blankenship is going to plead the 5th in the Upper Big Branch probe. Seems that Big Don is invoking his right to avoid self-incrimination.

I’m pretty shocked and awed by this bit of information. I guess all those times I called Blankenship a “homicidal maniac,” his lawyers didn’t disagree.

Per Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo:

We’ve just confirmed that retiring Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship no longer plans to appear next week to be questioned by state and federal investigators who are looking into the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster.

C.A. Phillips, acting director of the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training, said his agency was informed just a little while ago that Blankenship would invoke his 5th Amendment rights and not answer questions from the investigation team.

UPDATED: Here’s a copy of a letter from Blankenship’s attorney to the state Office of Miners Health Safety and Training.

Here are my thoughts about how Massey could spend that money instead:

1) On medical monitoring and cancer insurance for more than 700 Rawl community members, whose water supply was contaminated by Massey injecting massive amounts of coal sludge (more than seven times the BP oil spill) into an old leaky mine.

2) On Marsh Fork Elementary School. Massey offered a token $1 million to relocate the school, which sits in the shadow of their 2.8 billion-gallon coal slurry pond. They could afford to foot the entire $8 million bill and have change to spare for upgraded facilities.

3) On new homes for all the former residents of Lindytown — a ghost-town in Boone Co, WV where the entire community has been pushed out to make way for a Massey mountaintop removal mine.

4) On a memorial for the victims of all coal mining disasters (the second deadliest industry in the US) and for compensation to the families of the 54 miners who have been killed in Massey mines since 2000.

5) On a college scholarship fund for Appalachian students to study renewable energy and help transition the region away from dirty coal to a green economy.

How do you think Massey should be spending that $12 million?

The stories are flying like hard boiled eggs at Faber College’s lunch room. News sources have reported that Massey’s sale to Cliff Natural Resources may be imminent. Massey’s reputation as the “poster child” of mountaintop removal and a top producer of mountaintop removal coal in Central Appalachia is finally catching up to them. Massey CEO and homicidal maniac Don Blankenship has recently had his severance package rewritten by the company he’s “led” for the past 10 years and, yesterday, the company posted a $41 million loss…..

Ruh-Roh!

In a year where we are seeing the political rise of batshit crazy (i.e. the Tea Party), one of their biggest fans and funders might be out the door. Unfortunately, his next stop won’t be “Sink Sink,” the aptly named West Virginia Regional Jail built on a sinking MTR site, but the French Riviera or some other retirement spot for the rich and infamous. Back in April, Blankenship led Massey’s charge into the worst mining disaster in recent times.

But wait, presided over is too nice- Blankenship’s leadership killed 29 miners at the the Upper Big Branch on Coal River. And he actually just recently stated that he has a “clear conscience” about the disaster, I think it’s more like “no conscience.”

But Blankenship cares little about human life as he’s waged his own personal war on Appalachia’s mountains, eco-systems and the people that live in them. Maybe “war” is too soft of a term as well. “Genocide?” “Eco-cide?” Something like that.

Blankenship’s far-right laissez-faire philosophy has ravaged this region for decades. The only shame is that once he leaves Massey, he won’t get his just desserts.

Massey may or may not survive. Mountaintop removal will unfortunately continue after they are gone, which is why the end of Massey will only be a rest stop on our mountain-savin’ journey.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Massey “has formed a committee to study a number of options. Those options could include a sale to a rival or a private-equity firm, acquiring another company or remaining independent.”

Standard & Poor (S&P) put Massey’s credit rating ‘on watch’ this Tuesday, in the uncertainty of this news. Massey’s credit has been rated at BB- (a junk bond rating) even before the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in April, when 29 Massey miners were killed.

We reported in August that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, all of which have had substantial financing relationships with Massey Energy since January 2005, no longer finance the company.

Massey CEO Don Blankenship, image from ABC

Here’s a guest post from “NY for Appalachia Rising”, who are calling for their state retirement fund to divest from Massey Energy:

What can you buy with $15 million dollars? A blog, for one. Banking blog Bankaholic sold for that amount to a company called PadContent in 2008. An email: 15 million was the quote in 2008 for a single email written by Sarah Palin while in state office. Not impressed? How about a Beverly Hills eco-mansion? Jennifer Anniston paid 15 million in 2006 for hers. As silly as these investments seem, they’re relatively harmless. You’d still rather see your money put toward any of them than toward 306,000 shares of Massey Energy, the anti-union employer of 29 miners murdered in an underground explosion last April and the company responsible for more mountaintop removal mining than any other coal operator. That 15 million makes up less than 1/100th of a percent of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s approximately 126 billion in assets. But the small percentage the shares represent does not diminish the sin of their holding. Recent articles have called for a charge of manslaughter for Don Blankenship, owner of Massey Energy, for the lives of the miners lost in the Upper Big Branch Mine. If there were a law – and maybe one day there will be – he would also be charged with the murder of hundreds of mountains.

Even one share held in a company as ethically bankrupt as Massey is too many. What then is 306,000? The value for a given commodity, like coal, can change overnight, but mountains should be forever and human lives are priceless. By divesting from Massey Energy, New York State could lead the way in a chain reaction of divestments that could lasso and take down the corrupt and dirty giant that is Massey Energy.

A coalition of New York mountaintop removal activists have come together to initiate a campaign asking New York State Common Retirement Fund to divest from Massey Energy. This divestment would be a tangible victory setting a precedent for environmentally and socially ethical investment in New York and beyond. While the organizers recognize that Massey is not the only environmentally destructive or ethically corrupt company in which NY State invests, it is arguably the worst. How about putting that $15 million toward a few hundred thousand shares in wind energy instead? An investment to ensure a good retirement should also be an investment in the future, not fuel to the fire of those who damn it.

You can sign their petition here

Pics. Video.

Washington, D.C. (7/22/10)— Today activists with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) attended Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s National Press Club speaking event. RAN was there to call attention to Massey’s repeated mine safety violations, including the April 5 Upper Big Branch mine explosion in which 29 miners tragically died, as well as the company’s lead role in mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR). Blankenship has gained quite a reputation for his company’s mine safety violations as well as his indifference to environmental protection and climate change.

“Massey is the BP of the coal industry: reckless, arrogant and an obstacle to the clean energy future that the president and the country is calling for,” said Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network. “The bottom line is that clean, safe and forever are three words that Massey Energy can never credibly say.”

Massey mines more MTR coal than any other company in Appalachia, mining 20% of all MTR coal in 2009. Blankenship spoke at the National Press Club on the topic of increasing the surface mining of coal. It seems Blankenship is trying to protect his company’s future at a time when the tide is clearly turning away from the controversial mountaintop removal coal mining practice. In the last year, leading scientists, congressional representatives, Appalachians, environmentalists and even the late coal state Senator Robert Byrd have all called into question the coal mining practice. In addition, in April the EPA came out with strict new guidelines on MTR, which make it harder for companies like Massey to receive mining permits.

Currently, mountaintop removal coal makes up 7 percent of the nation’s total coal use but has an outsized impact on Appalachia’s environmental and public health. Massey Energy’s mountaintop removal mine sites use some of the most environmentally devastating types of mining to blow up Appalachian mountains and bury streams in toxic mine waste in order to reach coal seams that lie deep beneath the mountains’ surface. Since 1992, nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been filled at a rate of 120 miles per year with toxic surface mining waste. The estimated scale of deforestation from existing Appalachian surface mining operations is equivalent in size to the state of Delaware.

A paper released in January by a dozen leading scientists in the journal Science concluded that mountaintop coal mining is so destructive that the government should stop giving out new permits for the practice all together. “The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion that one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped,” said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences and the study’s lead author, when the paper was released.

Coal mining costs Appalachians five times more in early deaths than the industry provides to the region in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits, according to a groundbreaking new study released this month by a West Virginia University researcher. Several peer-reviewed studies have also found that residents of coal-producing counties are more likely to suffer from chronic heart, lung and kidney diseases and more likely to be hospitalized for certain health problems, like lung cancer, that are connected to coal pollution.

Massey Energy has a long history of environmental and social irresponsibility. It has been cited for repeated mine safety violations in recent years, racking up hundreds of penalties at the infamous Upper Big Branch mine alone as well as playing a role in one of the largest slurry spills ever to take place in the United States, the 2000 Martin County sludge spill in Kentucky.

For more information about coal and public health, visit: http://www.publichealthreports.org/

For more information about mountaintop removal and Rainforest Action Network, visit: http://ran.org/content/mountaintop-removal-american-tragedy

Here’s more evidence proving my point.

He’s leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce board. The Chamber is saying his rotation has merely ended. Maybe, maybe not. But they must be breathing a huge sigh of relief to have someone so devoid of reality no longer representing them.

On May 17, two Climate Ground Zero activists, EmmaKate Martin, 18, and Ben Bryant, 23, stopped traffic into Massey’s West Virginia headquarters with a lockdown device known as a tripod.

The cops showed up got them out of their blockade and took them to jail.

EmmaKate and Ben eventually went up before Boone County Magistrate Porter Snodgrass who promptly slapped them with $100,000 bail for four misdemeanors- trespassing, conspiracy, obstruction and littering. Yeah, that’s right, one hundred fucking thousand dollars for four measly misdemeanors.

A thoughtful person might reflect that we’re in what Gandhi called the “then they fight you” phase of the campaign to end mountaintop removal. King Coal has ignored us, he has laughed at us, we’ve been harassed, threatened, mountaintop community leaders have been shot at (and lots of other really bad stuff) and now we’re seeing the state authorities upping the ante as well.

Massey CEO, darling of the tea party and certified right wing nut job Don Blankenship rules southern West Virginia like a feudal kingdom while sending underground miners to their deaths and blasting the tops off of mountains. The anti-MTR movement sees Massey as the anti-Christ. The rest of the industry spends their time distancing themselves from the outlaw CEO’s attempts to burn down the whole shebang in a crusade to make as much money as possible. The distancing is happening so much that the Feds are conducting a criminal investigation around Massey’s safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine, and none of his peers in the mining industry will have anything to do with him publicly.

But locally, Massey’s minions are fighting like bees defending the hive. Their intent is to discourage and intimidate future actions. They are using bail as punishment for speaking out politically, and it is certainly excessive and spits in the eye of traditional concepts of fairness and justice.

There used to be this thing called the Constitution and in we had the 8th Amendment-“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” I learned about it in 6th grade social studies class. Magistrate Snodgrass seems to have skipped civics that day.

And of course, there are the endless comparisons to violent offenders in the region. Here are a couple of quick facts about the criminal justice system in southern West Virginia:

• One man, after stabbing someone five times in the back, was being held on $10,000 bond and his accomplice on $6,000 bond. (EmmaKate and Ben’s bail is ten times the amount the shooter got.)
• A 19-year-old Beckley woman was arrested for wanton endangerment after shooting at another woman in a Family Dollar parking lot and was being held on $10,000 bond. (Also EmmaKate and Ben’s bail is ten times higher than this woman’s bail.)
• A man accused of four sex crimes involving a 13-year-old got out on $15,000 bond.

On the more political end, pro-MTR actors received the following penalties from local authorities:

• On July 4, 2009, on Kayford Mountain, Adam Pauley threatened to kill families who had gathered to celebrate Independence Day at the Mountain Keepers Festival. He was not arrested, but was given a $100 fine and six months unsupervised probation when found guilty of verbal assault in a February 2010 trial brought against him by Mountain Keeper Larry Gibson. (About a thousand times less than the tripod team.)
• Rock Creek resident, Ruth Tucker, slapped Judy Bonds, outspoken mountaintop removal abolitionist, at a non-violent protest on June 23, 2009. She was released on personal recognizance and given a $100 fine six months after the fact. (Another fine that is a thousand times less)
• And of course Don Blankenship, responsible for thousands of mining safety violations, the destruction of hundreds of mountains, the death of 29 deep ground miners, and just for being an out and out asshole, has yet to see the world from behind bars or the inside of a criminal court.

In places like Appalachia where there is so many “haves” and “have nots,” the systematic pattern targeting political opponents of the local establishment and fossil fuel gentry is no surprise. Now it’s a matter of fighting these injustices one by one.

Washington, D.C. (5/20/10)— Today activists with the Rainforest Action Network attended the 2:00pm Massey Energy hearing before the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee. RAN activists were present to ensure that Massey’s controversial CEO, Don Blankenship, was held accountable for his role in the April 5, 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion where 29 miners tragically died. They were also calling attention to the company’s repeated mine safety and environmental violations. The activists attending the hearing held signs saying, “Coal is Dangerous” and “Massey = profit over people.” For live tweets of the hearing, follow @katerooth and @dirtyenergy.

Massey Energy Co., West Virginia’s largest coal producer and a lead company practicing the controversial mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining, has been cited for repeated mine safety violations in recent years, racking up hundreds of penalties at the Upper Big Branch alone. CEO Blankenship has gained quite a reputation for his disregard for mine safety regulations as well as his indifference to environmental protection.

“Massey has operated outside the law for far too long and must now be held accountable for these crimes against the people of Appalachia,” said Kate Rooth of the Rainforest Action Network who attended today’s hearings. “Massey is an outlaw corporation that has no concern for the people or the land of Appalachia. It is time for the company to uphold its legal and moral obligation to protect workers as well as the mountains and drinking water supplies where it operates.”

Today’s hearing is on the heels of Massey Energy’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday in Richmond, Va., where activists and mine workers protested the company by the hundreds. Two activists were arrested after unfurling a banner inside the shareholder meeting with the message: “Massey putting profits over people.”

As former mine worker Chuck Nelson of Glen Daniel, W.Va. said during Tuesday’s shareholder meeting: “Massey Energy is a criminal enterprise. I know from working for them that they cut every corner possible no matter who it might hurt. The subsidiary bosses answer directly to Don Blankenship so Blankenship and these lower level bosses should be held criminally accountable for the disaster at Upper Big Branch.”

Massey has a long history of environmental and social irresponsibility — including one of the largest slurry spills ever to take place in the United States, the Martin County sludge spill in KT in 2000, and a $1.5 million fine from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The company’s mountaintop removal mines use some of the most environmentally devastating types of mining, flattening the landscape and burying miles of streams.

Called the worst of the worst coal mining, mountaintop removal coal mining results in the clear-cutting of thousands of acres of some of the world’s most biologically diverse forests, the burying of crucial headwaters streams and the contamination of groundwater with toxic levels of heavy lead and mercury. A paper released in January by a dozen leading scientists in the journal Science, concluded that mountaintop coal mining is so destructive that the government should stop giving out new permits all together. “The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion that one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped,” said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences and the study’s lead author.

If you want to support them, please donate to the legal fund.

Magistrate Snodgrass of Boone County sets two $100,000 bails for non-violent protesters

Madison, W.Va. – EmmaKate Martin and Benjamin Bryant were arrested this morning while blockading the driveway to Massey Energy’s regional headquarters in Boone county, W.Va. Magistrate Snodgrass set their bails at $100,000 each for misdemeanor charges of trespassing, conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, obstructing an officer, and littering.

Nick Martin, EmmaKate’s older brother and participant in Climate Ground Zero’s campaign of civil resistance, stated “As I hugged my little sister following her arraignment this morning, I was awed by her calmness and high spirits. I admire her courage, and her willingness to put her freedom on the line for the well being of Appalachian communities and the environment. I will worry about her constantly until she is free. My sister is my hero!”

EmmaKate Martin was perched on a platform suspended in a tripod, a structure built with rope and three log poles, and Bryant was locked to the base of a pole. Both Martin and Bryant underwent extensive non-violence training prior to their action. Their banner read “Massey, Profits Before People & Mountains, Fight Back!”

They articulated their motives and the sense of responsibility that impelled them to act in an open letter to Massey shareholders and the American public. The letter can be read at www.climategroundzero.org/openletter. Among their top concerns are mountaintop removal and the Brushy Fork Sludge Impoundment on Coal River Mountain.

Climate Ground Zero’s legal team is researching the legality of the unprecedentedly high bail and will seek legal recourse.

“Boone county is not giving these bails to simply punish EmmaKate and Ben. Boone county, and the state of West Virginia, is using high bail as an intimidation tactic to deter others from standing up for the health of communities and against mountaintop removal and Massey’s mistreatment of workers,” stated Sarah Seeds veteran non-violent activist.

There is an emerging pattern of non-violent protesters receiving heavy-handed punishment while those who use violence against them are let off the hook. On July 4, 2009, on Kayford Mountain, Adam Pauley threatened to kill families who had gathered to celebrate Independence Day at the Mountain Keepers Festival. He was not arrested, but was given a $100 fine and six months unsupervised probation when found guilty of verbal assault in a February 2010 trial brought against him by Mountain Keeper Larry Gibson. Rock Creek resident, Ruth Tucker, slapped Judy Bonds, outspoken mountaintop removal abolitionist, at a non-violent protest on June 23, 2009. She was released on personal recognizance and given a $100 fine six months after the fact. Climate Ground Zero activist, Jacqueline Quimby was recently sentenced to sixty days in jail for an act of non-violent civil disobedience at a Kanawha County mine site.

Illustration by Ian Murphy

In the search for answers, much attention is focusing on the mining company that owns Big Branch, Massey Energy and Massey’s outspoken CEO, Don Blankenship.

Yesterday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who also served at the helm of the United Mine Workers of America for 13 years, commented: “Those miners died because Massey Energy cares more about a lump of coal than human lives”.
Mr. Blankenship has made no secret of his contempt for both environmental and safety regulations, blaming them each for interfering with his company’s ability to mine coal as cheaply as possible.

Photo via WV Gazette

When I think of Don, the first image that comes to my mind is of his bold posturing last year on Labor Day. Dressed in a ‘stars and stripes’ shirt, while posing in front of the US flag, he mocked local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts “as silly as global warming”.

He has eagerly positioned himself as the ‘spokesperson’ for the mountaintop removal mining industry and consistently works to block a future that all Appalachian’s can benefit from: development of renewable energy and preservation of mountain heritage.

From his twitter feed:

“America doesn’t need Green jobs — but Red, White, & Blue ones.”

How cruelly ironic that Don Blankenship invokes the imagery of American patriotism, while setting the scene for two of the greatest American tragedies: the tragedy of disregarding his workers’ safety and the tragedy of mountaintop removal mining.

How did they get in here?, Part One.
As the sun came up I was squatting in the brush looking down on our destination. It was snowy and cold, and we had hiked the two and a half miles up the holler and over a ridge, and now we could see the Marfork Coal Company headquarters below at the bottom of a tree covered slope that fell about a thousand feet before ending at the edge of a large parking lot. We saw two workers arrive, both female, and then two men, who all went inside the office to open it up as we had watched them do on earlier occasions. This time, however, as we readied to descend the slope, two of them reappeared in the parking lot with snow shovels and began clearing snow off the helicopter landing pad on the far side of the parking lot. They did this quickly, and after applying salt to the pavement, they hurried inside and all was quiet. Taking the lead, Tom went down carefully picking his way through the snow and underbrush. Joe and I sat down and slid on our asses, which was a quicker if less dignified and soon we were on the steps leading into the lobby of Marfork’s main office, a fortress protected by a bridge over the river, a guard shack and several layers of chain link and barbwire.

Once through the doors we wasted no time. We took our seat in the first three chairs in the lobby, and Tom and Joe began to chain down while I hung the banner on the doors. One employee attempted to remove Joe from his chair by force but Tom and I joined his arms and I informed him that this was a non violent protest and that we had called the media, which backed him off enough for them to finish locking their chains to the wooden chairs. Then, the security guard, in full uniform complete with Smokey the Bear hat and gun, came through the doors and asked the two women in the lobby “How did they get in here?”

But it gets better. Big Mike, Massey’s chief of security, whom we’ve gotten to know quite well over the last year, also asked the same question to the Security Guard with the Smokey the Bear hat, “How’d they get in here?” It was a question we have heard him ask on practically every one of our actions, and one that we generally refrained from answering. Big Mike was especially agitated not only because his office was in the building, but also his boss’s office, who was now in the lobby asking him; “How did they get in here?”

Big Mike was not happy, and he leaned in real close to my face and said, almost whispering; “It’s one thing when you guys go up on the strip job, but this is fucking different!” It sounded more like a threat than a statement, and I wondering how a simple sit-in at the Massey office could elicit such a bitter and hard response when I looked out the window and a watched small black helicopter touch down on the newly cleared landing pad. You guessed it! It was Big Don Blankinship himself and there was Big Mike telling him that everything was under control, but there were three Climate Ground Zero Activists chained down in his lobby.

“How did they get in here?”
Indeed!

The debate will be broadcast locally in Charleston, livestreamed by Waterkeeper Alliance, and Tweetcast by Director of RAN’s Global Finance Campaign, Ms. Amanda Starbuck. Edwin Welch, President of University of Charleston, will be moderating. Not holding one of the coveted tickets to the event? Attend the debate virtually:

1. Submit your questions to the University of Charleston
2. Follow @RAN and @Waterkeeper on Twitter
3. Become Facebook fans of Rainforest Action Network or The Dirty Lie
3. Tune into the livestream on Justin.tv at 6:15pm EST, Thursday, Jan. 21

If you care about conservation, West Virginia, coal, energy policy, or just seeing a really good fight- be there!

RFK, Jr. On Mountaintop Removal

Don Blankenship On Global Warming

Why would I fly across the country on my own dime knowing I would most likely end up in jail in one of the poorest parts of America?

Well, have you ever heard of MTR?

Don’t feel bad, my friends are intelligent well-read and informed people, but most of them had never heard of MTR (Mountain Top Removal) either.

So, I went to Coal River to help bring much needed attention to this hidden, criminal (but somehow legal) form of mining. I was honored to be joining an inspiringly brave group of concerned Americans, which included – NASA climate scientist James Hansen who was among the first to sound the alarm on the climate crisis. The sharp, charismatic, 94 year old, former West Virginia U.S. Representative and Secretary of State Ken Hechler, who was the first congressman to introduce a Federal bill to abolish strip mining in 1971. (If passed the bill could have prevented this mess we find ourselves in). And Michael Brune, executive director of Rainforests Action Network who is committed to ending to this terrible, destructive practice. I was deeply moved to be arrested with those affected by MTR in Kentucky, and the many local residents fighting for their very lives, including a half dozen senior citizens, canes, walkers and all.

Me with Dr. James Hansen at Marsh Fork Elementary School

Mountain Top Removal is a devastatingly destructive form of mining and has already destroyed 2,000,000 acres in the Appalachian Mountains.

Coal companies have literally blown up over 500 mountain tops to access the coal seams and then dumped the refuse into the valleys below, killing over 3000 miles of HEADWATER streams. The EPA just gave the go ahead for an additional 42 mountaintops to be blown off with another 6 permits pending.

Mountain Top Removal leaves behind a virtual hideous moonscape of devastated earth, billions of gallons of poisonous toxic sludge, and boarded up towns with dramatically high rates of cancer.

Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for, and am deeply indebted to the miners working in coalmines and on MTR projects who risk their lives daily to bring power to our country. I understand they feel threatened by anything that might take away their jobs. And, I don’t want to see them lose more jobs, as 75% of mining jobs have already been lost to the machines and explosives of MTR.

While it takes fewer miners to remove coal with Mountain Top Removal there are just as many dangers, accidents and fatalities! It is a cheaper way for the companies to mine and that’s why it’s becoming so pervasive.

Yesterday, I received this email from a woman in Virginia -

Dear Daryl,
Thank you so much for coming to West Virginia and trying to save our mountains from Mountain top removal. I am a 9th generation Appalachian and it pains us to see what is happening. If it was not for the Internet I wouldn’t have known about your efforts. Massey has quite a bit of influence of the local media in the coalfields. I am sorry you were arrested but I thank you for standing up for what is right.  We need to work on sustainable communities here in the mountains so that coal miners will have opportunities for jobs not so dangerous. My brother works, when he can’t find anything else, at the mines driving the large dump trucks that haul the coal out of the pits. It’s dangerous work even if you are not underground. You just wouldn’t believe the equipment they give them to work with. This one site he was in this massive huge dump truck that the floorboard was rusted out with open holes. Rocks would fly back into the cab from the tires. And when it rains, it’s a mudslide. One of his co -workers was killed when the dump truck went over an embankment last year. Reporting gets you fired. And yet these workers will defend the job because there is nothing else. So thank you for standing up with us. We do appreciate it.

Then there’s the sickness…

According to WVU’s institute for health policy research, coal county residents are more likely to suffer from chronic heart, lung and kidney diseases, cancers and generally suffer from excess numbers of premature death. There’s a high cancer risk for up to 1 out of every 50 Americans living near the more than 100 billion gallons of toxic sludge in the clay-lined and unlined  (the majority unlined) coal ash landfills and slurry ponds, such as the TVA Kingston ash sludge landfill that collapsed into the Emory River in December.

Tennessee Valley Authority officials consistently have said the ash spilled in December from the utility’s Kingston Fossil Plant wet landfill in Harriman, Tenn., and in January from its Widows Creek pond in Stevenson, Ala., is non-hazardous…  but after the spill, regulatory and independent testing have found high levels of toxicity in the spilled waste and raw water where the two spills occurred. 31 of the landfills and slurry ponds in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama are on or near major waterways!

The slurry pond above the Marsh fork elementary school where we held our protest holds 2.8 billion gallons (it’s one of the smallest ponds – one nearby in brushing fork holds 9 billion gallons) of sludge in unlined pits containing arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

Marsh Fork Elementary School site and toxic holding pond

Tragically but predictably in coal river valley, the children are often sick with headaches and asthma and of the 200 students and teachers at Marsh fork elementary school cancer rates are higher than average.

Three teachers have died from cancer and one is struggling with disease now.

In 2005 one student died from ovarian cancer at age seventeen and another was still battling ovarian cancer.

Today I received this from a man in Raleigh County, West Virginia –

West Virginia. It is hell.
Every morning a 6 am my cat starts coughing. My eyes burn, my nose burns (sometimes bleeds), I get ill, and my health continues to fall apart. I got two forms of cancer, I can’t drink the water.. and we are 15 miles from Marsha Fork where they are making (was supposed to be shut down) a cyanide based pesticide that in an accident killed 1800 people in India. My kid is lead poisoned, my wife is- and in a mile radius 10 people have had heart attacks or died from whatever is here. The dust is full of arsenic and the Massey power plants create a blue haze which is really sulfuric acid. EPA won’t come near this place. It is owned by the coal industry. Thousands, who live here and are dying from 100 miles of rivers under coal sludge, Do the earth a favor and check on this and if you feel like improving our life send us a ticket out of here. I am sending you a picture of my son. He is being poisoned here. It breaks my heart. We cannot even get workman’s comp and have huge families. We are the poor of southern West Virginia..

State regulators are telling the people that it’s an “improvement” to flatten a forested mountain, seed it with grass and hope that some shrubs will grow – and then allow hunters who have signed “the appropriate waivers of liability, indemnifications and assumptions of risks” to hunt whatever animals might choose to inhabit such barren fields.

As humorist Dave Barry says, we’re not making this up, although we wish we were.

Let me make one thing clear…  there is no such thing as clean coal!!!

I wish President Obama would stop using the term and take CEQ chief Nancy Sutley and EPA head Lisa Jackson to visit these unfortunate mining sites under their jurisdiction.

When we flip the switch to turn our lights on, most of us have no idea where that power comes from. According to the U.S. dept. of energy, more than 50% of our electricity comes from coal.

Coal emits much more carbon (CO2) per unit of energy than oil and natural gas. From the acid drainage of mines polluting rivers and streams, to the release of mercury and other toxins when its burned into the atmosphere, the fine particulates that wreak havoc on human health, and the colossal waste, coal pollutes every step of the way.

“Clean coal” is the industry’s attempt to “clean up” its dirty image – the industry’s green wash buzzword. It is not a new type of coal. “Clean coal” methods only move pollutants from one waste stream to another.  Coal is a dirty business!

The good news is we have a solution! A study of the long-term benefits of INFINITE Wind Power versus FINITE coal MTR in Coal River Mountain, West Virginia already exists. They show “excellent potential” for efficiency, productivity and economic benefit. Though it doesn’t have short-term financial returns, wind promises to provide clean, inexpensive energy and offer scores of safe jobs for the long term. Just check out the staggering figures from a report released by the American Wind Energy Association “wind industry jobs jumped to 85,000 in 2008, a 70% increase from the previous year”. Renewable energy will continue to grow exponentially where as mining jobs have decreased or remained relatively stagnant at “81,000 workers” for the over 20 years, according to the 2007 U.S. dept of energy report.

I can understand why those who live in coal towns are frustrated, because while we have this technology available to us NOW – it is still just “a promise” in these regions.

Being led away by the police

It’s imperative we let our president, our elected public servants and entrepreneurs know that this is where we want our investment to be directed.

Hopefully some wise, forward thinking heroes will step up the plate, build the wind farm and take this incredible win, win, wind, opportunity to bury the dirty dinosaur of Mountain Top Removal forever.

Daryl Hannah
http://www.crmw.net/
http://www.appvoices.org/
http://ilovemountains.org/
http://www.ram.org/obamamtr

You can follow Daryl on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dhlovelife