14 Arrests Initiate Week of Action Against Mountaintop Removal

Four­teen peo­ple were arrest­ed on June 18 in a protest meant to launch a week of action against moun­tain­top removal coal min­ing in West Vir­ginia. Four peo­ple climbed a 150-foot dragline at a mine site near Twi­light, WV, and unfurled a ban­ner read­ing, “Stop Moun­tain­top Removal Min­ing”. Anoth­er 9 entered the mine site to unfurl anoth­er ban­ner. Climbers remained atop the dragline for more than three hours before being arrest­ed.

This action is the first time ever that a dragline, one of the largest machines on earth, has ever been shut down in a protest, and is an impor­tant esca­la­tion in the fight against moun­tain­top removal.

The week of action will cul­mi­nate with a civ­il dis­obe­di­ence action fea­tur­ing lead­ing cli­mate sci­en­tist Dr. James Hansen, actress Daryl Han­nah, Rain­for­est Action Net­work Exec­u­tive Direc­tion Michael Brune and for­mer Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ken Hech­ler.

The week of action was ini­ti­at­ed only days after Pres­i­dent Oba­ma announced his plans to reform, rather than abol­ish, moun­tain­top removal coal min­ing. The Oba­ma admin­is­tra­tion approved envi­ron­men­tal per­mits for 42 of the 48 pro­posed new moun­tain­top removal mines it has con­sid­ered so far.

For more infor­ma­tion, to get involved or to make dona­tions for bail, vis­it www.mountainaction.org.