mountaintop removal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    11/21/09
Contact: Zoe Beavers 304-854-7372
Email: news@climategroundzero.org

PETTUS, W. Va. – Early this morning two concerned citizens, Dea Goblirsch and Nick Martin, locked down to a drill rig on Coal River Mountain’s Bee Tree mountaintop removal site, effectively stopping blasting. Two others, Grace Williams and Laura Von Dolen, joined them in direct support, holding a banner with the message “Save Coal River Mountain”.

From a Twin Cities activist in Pettry Bottom, W. Va.—Think twice the next time you turn on your computer. The source of most of our energy in the Twin Cities is under attack.

Two people have occupied treetops in the small West Virginian communities of Pettry Bottom and Peach Tree within the blasting zone of a Massey Energy mountaintop removal coal-mining site.

At 6:30 am the two activists, associated with environmental groups Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice, unrolled banners reading “Stop Mountain Top Removal” and “DEP – Don’t Expect Protection” from their treetop platforms. The two are perched 80 feet above the ground, within 30 feet of the mine, and within 300 feet of blasting. Regulations prohibit use of any explosives when people are within the blasting zone.