Feb. 17, 2009
Protesters Again Arrested at Massey Energy Owned WV Site
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Blasting at the Clays Branch mountain top removal site came to a temporary halt after two activists from Climate Ground Zero held a “Windmills Not Toxic Spills” sign. The protest began about 11 a.m. February 16 with Mike Roselle and James McGuinness showed up at the Edwhite mountain top removal (MTR) site near Shumate Dam on Cherry Pond Mountain.
The West Virginia State Police arrested both men for criminal trespass and released them without further incident.
The Shumate dam holds back 2.8 billion gallons of toxic sludge, the waste by-product of chemically cleaning coal, and sits above the Marsh Fork elementary school. Since 2005, local citizens have demanded that Marsh Fork Elementary School be moved to protect the children from a massive dam failure like the one that happened in Kingston, Tennessee on Dec. 22, 2008.
“This is a crime against nature”, said James McGuinness, “It is not only illegal, it is immoral.” “They have no right to destroy this mountain.”
“Massey Energy’s plan to destroy this mountain for coal threatens the health and safety of the residents of Clays Branch and the Hunter Addition of Naoma. This is a serious threat to the ecology, the economy and the future of West Virginia.” Said Mike Roselle, of Rock Creek.
“If the blasting continues, and the Shumate Dam was to fail, the lives of thousands of West Virginians would be at risk.”
Clays Branch is part of Cherry Pond Mountain, which stretches east along WV Highway 3 to Bolt Mountain (Rt 99). Clays Branch is located above Marsh Fork Elementary School, above the 2.8 billion gallon sludge pond at Shumate and up the left hand fork of Shumate hollow. There is massive MTR blasting currently ongoing –next to an unstable sludge dam, above an elementary school and surrounded by mountain communities.
Massey Energy, the ownership parent of the Edwright MTR site, has a case pending before the United States Supreme Court. The question concerns whether Massey’s CEO indirect financial backing of a West Virginia Supreme Court justice resulted in a constitutional due process violation when the justice determined not to step aside from Massey cases.
(Photo Courtesy of OVEC and Climate Zero)
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Protesters Again Arrested at Massey Energy Owned WV Site
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Blasting at the Clays Branch mountain top removal site came to a temporary halt after two activists from Climate Ground Zero held a “Windmills Not Toxic Spills” sign. The protest began about 11 a.m. February 16 with Mike Roselle and James McGuinness showed up at the Edwhite mountain top removal (MTR) site near Shumate Dam on Cherry Pond Mountain.
The West Virginia State Police arrested both men for criminal trespass and released them without further incident.
The Shumate dam holds back 2.8 billion gallons of toxic sludge, the waste by-product of chemically cleaning coal, and sits above the Marsh Fork elementary school. Since 2005, local citizens have demanded that Marsh Fork Elementary School be moved to protect the children from a massive dam failure like the one that happened in Kingston, Tennessee on Dec. 22, 2008.
“This is a crime against nature”, said James McGuinness, “It is not only illegal, it is immoral.” “They have no right to destroy this mountain.”
“Massey Energy’s plan to destroy this mountain for coal threatens the health and safety of the residents of Clays Branch and the Hunter Addition of Naoma. This is a serious threat to the ecology, the economy and the future of West Virginia.” Said Mike Roselle, of Rock Creek.
“If the blasting continues, and the Shumate Dam was to fail, the lives of thousands of West Virginians would be at risk.”
Clays Branch is part of Cherry Pond Mountain, which stretches east along WV Highway 3 to Bolt Mountain (Rt 99). Clays Branch is located above Marsh Fork Elementary School, above the 2.8 billion gallon sludge pond at Shumate and up the left hand fork of Shumate hollow. There is massive MTR blasting currently ongoing –next to an unstable sludge dam, above an elementary school and surrounded by mountain communities.
Massey Energy, the ownership parent of the Edwright MTR site, has a case pending before the United States Supreme Court. The question concerns whether Massey’s CEO indirect financial backing of a West Virginia Supreme Court justice resulted in a constitutional due process violation when the justice determined not to step aside from Massey cases.
(Photo Courtesy of OVEC and Climate Zero)
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