This news story originally provided by The Register-Herald

June 30, 2005

2 arrested as Coal River group visits Massey headquarters

By Amelia A. Pridemore/REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

After two protests against a Massey Energy facility in Sundial, a group of Coal River Valley residents and their supporters took their message Wednesday to the company's headquarters in Richmond, Va.

Two protesters were arrested for trespassing while attempting to deliver a list of demands to Massey officials, according to a release from Coal River Mountain Watch, a local environmental organization opposed to Massey's activities in Sundial, adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School.

Wednesday's rally against Massey's activities in Richmond was the third conducted this summer by Coal River Mountain Watch, a Coal River Valley-based environmental organization, with support of the national Mountain Justice Summer movement. Previous ones at Massey's Goals Coal Company, adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School, have led to 18 other arrests.

The involved citizens demand that Massey shut down its preparation plant, coal loading silo, mountaintop removal mine and coal sludge dam, according to a CRMW release. The residents contend operations at the plant, and the residual chemicals coming from it, have repeatedly made children at Marsh Fork Elementary sick. They also claim that the sludge dam is leaking and is extremely dangerous, especially because children are in such close proximity.

Coal River Valley resident Herb Elkins and Liberty resident Hannah Thurman were the two arrested by the Richmond Police Department and released on bond.

While handcuffed, Thurman and Elkins shouted, "Save the kids at Marsh Fork Elementary!" as they were loaded into a police cruiser.

Richmond Police Department only confirmed two were arrested without incident, but did not give any names.

CRMW members collected signatures on post cards from 800 concerned citizens of the Coal River Valley, he said, and brought 50 of them to the rally so they could be presented to Massey officials. The group also made a mural of 200 of the postcards with pictures of the Marsh Fork Elementary students. The rest of the postcards will be periodically mailed to Massey headquarters.

Massey officials contend their facility is safe. A spokeswoman for the company said the sludge dam has a controlled drainage system, not seepage. Chemicals used at the facility are ones used throughout the coal industry. Also, the company provides jobs for Coal River Valley residents, and it wants residents to have the best quality of life possible.