This news story originally provided by The Richmond Times Dispatch

June 30, 2005

Two arrested in protest at Massey

Activists seek closing of firm's coal-mining complex near school in W.Va. town

BY GREG EDWARDS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
 

Herb Elkins and Hanna Thurman were led out of the Massey building at Fourth and Main streets in Richmond yesterday after being arrested when they refused to leave the premises as part of a protest BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH

Police arrested two West Virginia activists for trespassing yesterday as they demonstrated at Massey Energy Co.'s offices in downtown Richmond.

Hanna Thurman and Herb Elkins of Coal River Mountain Watch were led in handcuffs from a vestibule at Massey's Fourth Street office building after they refused requests from police to leave the property.

The small entranceway contains a phone that visitors must use to gain access to the main part of the building. Thurman and Elkins were attempting to deliver their groups' demands that Massey close its coal-mining operation near an elementary school in the Coal River Valley community of Sundial, roughly 30 miles south of Charleston.

Richmond police began arriving at the building around 11:20 a.m., roughly 20 minutes after the demonstration began. Officers talked with Thurman and Elkins for nearly 40 minutes before making the arrests. Police also warned other demonstrators that they would be arrested if they blocked the sidewalk in front of the building.

As she was led away, Thurman hollered repeatedly: "Shut down the prep plant," referring to a coal-preparation plant a few hundred feet from the school. A dozen other demonstrators watched and shouted: "Massey, save the kids."

Yesterday's demonstration was part of an ongoing effort by Coal River Mountain Watch and two other groups, Mountain Justice Summer and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, aimed at Massey's operation near the 280-student Marsh Fork Elementary School. It also appeared to be part of a broader effort by activist groups to end mountain-top removal strip mining in West Virginia.

Besides the coal-preparation plant, Massey operates a strip mine and coal-slurry pond on the ridges behind the school. On May 31, 16 people, including an 82-year-old grandmother, were arrested at a demonstration at the mine site.

Demonstrators want the coal plant and strip mine shut down. They are also demanding that Massey stop blasting near their homes, withdraw an application to expand the coal plant and clean the elementary school or move it.

Coal River Valley resident Ed Wiley said his granddaughter Kayla attends the school. He said he worries about the soundness of the dam at the slurry pond nearby, the chemicals used at the preparation plant and the runoff from the strip mine. "Children playing [in the schoolyard], their feet get black with coal dust."

Bo Webb, a miner's son and Vietnam veteran who recently returned to the valley to live, accused Massey of terrorizing valley residents. By its blasting and other mining activities, Massey's Goals Coal Co. subsidiary is forcing out families who have lived in the valley for centuries and intends to eventually mine their land, Webb charged.

"With all due respect," responded Massey spokeswoman Katharine Kenny, "we couldn't stay in business if we operated with less than the high ethical standards that we have." Massey is the fourth-largest U.S. coal producer.

She responded to charges by protesters that the coal-slurry dam is leaking and that the coal plant poses a health threat. The dam, she said, has been inspected by federal and state inspectors, and chemicals used in its coal plant are approved and commonly used.

Jessica Greathouse, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed that the slurry pond complies with state laws.

In a statement, Massey said a great deal of misinformation has been spread about activities at its Goals preparation plant, but the regulatory process is the place to express any concerns. Massey designs its mines beyond what its required for pollution prevention and control and is committed to environmental stewardship, the company said.

After her release around 3:30 yesterday afternoon, Thurman, a recent newcomer to the Coal River valley, said that she had no regrets about her arrest and that said she staged her protest for the children at the school and her neighbors.