Last June, a daring team of 14 people shut down a dragline on a Massey owned mountaintop removal site in Twilight, WV. The team included 4 climbers that went up the 20 story piece of equipment to deploy a banner.
The police and Massey confiscated all their camera and video equipment and this week it was returned to the activists.
Here are the pictures from the climbers up on the dragline.
Notice the sheer devastation that you can see in the back ground as the climbers are on the machine.
Companies like Massey Energy have declared war on the forests and mountains of Appalachia.
This action was one in thirteen that have happened this year with over 100 people being arrest resisting mountaintop removal.
Two weeks ago, two tree-sitters stopped blasting at the Edwight mine above Pettry Bottom, WV. The dragline action stopped a massive earth-scooping machine in Twilight. Climate Ground Zero is calling for more support to fight mountaintop removal in southern West Virginia.
Donate to support the Dragline 14 (legal and court costs) and Climate Ground Zero here.
Check out the call to action to join CGZ’s action campaign in Appalachia here:
Call to Action
It’s going to take action, continued and direct, to end mountaintop removal in Appalachia. We need to stop the coal companies from laying mountains low, poisoning air and water and ruining livelihoods. Our volunteers have put their bodies on the line to stop the over 3,000,000 pounds of explosives used every day to level West Virginia for coal.
Climate Ground Zero is not another environmental organization. It is an ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience in southern West Virginia to address mountaintop removal coal mining and its effects on our future.
Here in West Virginia, an overwhelming majority of residents are opposed to this destructive form of mining. But our political leaders are afraid of Big Coal and their powerful lobbyists–a few coal state Senators and Representatives of Congress have vowed to block any reforms. Over a century of repression has created a situation where coal operators are exempt from environmental laws and regulations, and a corrupt court system refuses to enforce those laws.
To stop mountaintop removal, we need to awaken the consciousness of the country to this violent crime. Since the beginning of the year, hundreds of activists have come to the coalfields and stood with the residents of West Virginia to demand an end to the destruction. So far, over 90 people have been arrested in a series of actions that have actually stopped the blasting, garnered national media attention and elicited harsh reactions from the coal industry.
Tired of writing e-mails and attending meetings? Put on your boots, hit the road and come stand in solidarity with the people of Appalachia. We are going to keep confronting King Coal until we win, but we can’t do it without you here.
Climate Ground Zero operates a base camp in the heart of the coal mining region of West Virginia. Find out more here.