May 26, 2009
Press Conference Slated Tuesday for Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero’s Anti-Mountaintop Removal Actions
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Beckley, WV (HNN) — Mountain Justice will be holding a press conference Tuesday, May 26, about last Saturday’s 17 arrests, which occurred in three separate actions. Residents of West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia -- four Appalachian states affected by mountaintop removal -- were among the arrestees.
All are charged with trespassing. Two of them floated a banner reading “No More Sludge” in seven billion gallons of toxic coal slurry at the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment. They are also charged with littering. Four remain incarcerated, unable to meet the $2,000 cash-only bail. It is anticipated that they will be released on Tuesday.
According to an advisory, the conference begins at noon on the steps of the Raleigh County Court House.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has approved permits, submitted by Massey Energy, for the 6,450-acre surface mine around the impoundment. This plan includes blasting on top of one of the ridges of the dam, which sits above a honeycomb of abandoned underground mines. The emergency evacuation plan for the Brushy Fork sludge dam states that should it fail, a wall of water 50 feet high would hit Whitesville and result in the deaths of at least 998 people. An alternative to the surface mine is the installation of a wind farm on Coal River Mountain, which will provide jobs and energy without increasing the risk of catastrophe associated with the Brushy Fork dam.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
Press Conference Slated Tuesday for Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero’s Anti-Mountaintop Removal Actions
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Beckley, WV (HNN) — Mountain Justice will be holding a press conference Tuesday, May 26, about last Saturday’s 17 arrests, which occurred in three separate actions. Residents of West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia -- four Appalachian states affected by mountaintop removal -- were among the arrestees.
All are charged with trespassing. Two of them floated a banner reading “No More Sludge” in seven billion gallons of toxic coal slurry at the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment. They are also charged with littering. Four remain incarcerated, unable to meet the $2,000 cash-only bail. It is anticipated that they will be released on Tuesday.
According to an advisory, the conference begins at noon on the steps of the Raleigh County Court House.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has approved permits, submitted by Massey Energy, for the 6,450-acre surface mine around the impoundment. This plan includes blasting on top of one of the ridges of the dam, which sits above a honeycomb of abandoned underground mines. The emergency evacuation plan for the Brushy Fork sludge dam states that should it fail, a wall of water 50 feet high would hit Whitesville and result in the deaths of at least 998 people. An alternative to the surface mine is the installation of a wind farm on Coal River Mountain, which will provide jobs and energy without increasing the risk of catastrophe associated with the Brushy Fork dam.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
