PETTUS, West Virginia, February 3, 2009 (ENS) – Fourteen people were arrested today at a Massey Energy mountaintop removal coal mine site for trespassing on company property while staging a protest of blasting they say will endanger communities on Coal River Mountain.

Five activists with Climate Ground Zero and pan-Appalachian Mountain Justice who locked themselves down to heavy machinery early this morning were arrested along with a videographer documenting the protest.

By afternoon, dozens of local residents, friends and supporters from throughout Appalachia converged at the gate of Massey Energy’s Beetree Surface Mine on Coal River Mountain. Eight more people were arrested in the afternoon action. All 14 were ticketed for tresspassing.

The protesters delivered a letter to mine company officials intended for Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. Signed by 14 West Virginia residents, the letter demands that Massey cease the mountaintop removal operation on Coal River Mountain.

Although Massey has begun work at the site, residents are advocating for a wind farm at the same location as a safer alternative for cleaner energy and long-term jobs.

Since the protesters were trespassing, they were rightfully cited, said Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater. He said the company has all the permits required to mine the site.

Blasting for part of the operation could begin at any time above underground mines and close to a coal waste sludge dam called the Brushy Fork impoundment that currently contains seven billion gallons and has a nine billion gallon capacity.

Protesters chained to a sign reading “Windmills Not Toxic Spills” (Photo by Chad Stevens)

“I fear for my friends and all the people living below this coal sludge dam,” said Gary Anderson, who lives on the mountain near the site. “Blasting beside the dam, over underground mines, could decimate the valley for miles.”

“The experts said that the Buffalo Creek sludge dam was safe, but it failed. They said that the TVA sludge dam was safe, but it failed. Massey is setting up an even greater catastrophe here,” said Anderson.

Anderson was referring to the failure of a retaining wall at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant December 22, 2008. The broken wall released about a billion cubic yards of coal ash that originally covered about 400 acres at the confluence of the Emory and Clinch Rivers. No injuries occurred, but about 40 area homes were affected. Response and recovery are continuing.

“Massey could flood the towns of Pettus, Whitesville and Sylvester with toxic coal sludge,” said protester Julia Bonds. “Blasting at a multi-billion-gallon sludge lake over underground mines could cause the sludge to burst through and kill thousands of people.”

In 1972, a sludge dam operated by Pittston Coal Company failed and killed 125 people in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia.

In 2000, a sludge dam operated by Massey Energy in Martin County, Kentucky, released some 300 million gallons of coal waste that broke through into underground mines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called it the worst environmental disaster in the Southeast.

These West Virginia residents have lost faith in their state government and taken their plea national.

“We can’t sit by while Massey jeopardizes the lives and homes of thousands of people,” said Vernon Haltom. “Governor [Joe] Manchin and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection have proven that they are unwilling to protect the citizens. What do they expect us to do? Will they wait until we’re in body bags to take this threat seriously?”

The protesters point to a 2008 report by the federal Office of Surface Mining that revealed serious deficiencies in the WVDEP’s regulation of coal waste dams.

In November, WVDEP approved a permit revision allowing Massey to begin the mountaintop removal operation at Coal River Mountain. Despite citizens’ objections, the state agency declined to permit public participation in its decision process.

“The governor and county legislators have failed to act, so we’re acting for them,” said protester Rory McIlmoil, one of those arrested. “They shouldn’t allow the wind potential on Coal River Mountain to be destroyed, and the nearby communities endangered, for only 17 years of coal.”

Anderson added, “We need to stop the madness and stop Massey from blowing up our beautiful mountain. We need to go with the better energy option, and that’s a wind farm, which is perfect for Coal River Mountain. We could have a green energy future for the country, starting right here.”

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RICHMOND, Virginia, March 21, 2008 (ENS) – A state law passed last year to encourage construction of a power plant in southwestern Virginia requires the plant to burn Virginia coal. This provision makes the law unconstitutional, the Southern Environmental Law Center said in a filing with the State Corporation Commission, SCC, challenging the law.

By requiring such a facility to use Virginia-mined coal, the state law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, the law center contends.

The State Corporation Commission is reviewing a request by Dominion Power to build a 585 megawatt power plant in Wise County and raise consumer rates to pay for construction and a profitable rate of return for the corporation.

The law at issue prohibits Dominion Power from purchasing out-of-state or foreign coal, preventing the company from seeking out the least-polluting fuel available for its proposed Wise County power plant.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar Oklahoma statute requiring utilities to use at least 10 percent Oklahoma-mined coal.

The proposal has triggered a growing opposition movement across the state involving conservationists, the faith community, and student groups.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed its brief late last week on behalf of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. The State Corporation Commission is expected to rule by mid-April.

The law center points out that “critically, the Virginia law allows Dominion to seek a rate hike from the SCC immediately. A power plant not using Virginia coal would be prohibited from seeking a rate increase until 2009, when Virginia’s caps on electricity rates expire.”

“The statute gave Dominion a constitutionally impermissible head start, and they’ve been scurrying to fast-track this coal plant ever since,” said Cale Jaffe, staff attorney at the law center.

The law center also points out that an analysis by SCC staff reveals the plant will actually harm Virginia’s economy, because higher electric bills will leave families with less to spend on consumer goods and services.

Based on Dominion’s estimate of $1.62 billion cost of the plant, the SCC staff estimates 1,474 jobs would be lost.

But the utility now puts the cost at $1.8 billion, an increase of 225% from when the plant was first proposed.

By comparison, a Westar Energy facility in Kansas was tabled after cost estimates grew by $200 – $400 million in 18 months. Dominion’s costs have grown by five times this rate in 19 months.

“Even worse,” Jaffe said, “Dominion has failed to account for any costs for controlling carbon dioxide,” the primary greenhouse gas responsible for global climate change.

“Dominion candidly admits that carbon costs are coming down the pike, but fails to do anything to plan for it. The disconnect is stunning,” he said.

In hearings before the SCC in February, Dominion witnesses conceded that a federal law regulating carbon emissions is “inevitable.”

The Virginia Attorney General’s office estimates the cost to offset the carbon emissions from the Wise County plant as high as $265 million per year.

These costs are critical, SELC noted, as leading Wall Street institutions such as Citigroup, Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley, now require utilities to prove that new plants will be economically viable even under potentially stringent federal caps on carbon dioxide.

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