Big names expected to take on big coal

Hundreds of people are expected at Marsh Fork Elementary in Raleigh County on Tuesday for what’s supposed to be a non-violent demonstration.

To prepare, environmentalists are hosting seminars in peaceful tactics at the Coal River Mountain Watch facility on Monday. A member says it’s an effort to keep tensions low during the demonstration.

The elementary has been in the middle of a debate between environmentalists and Massey Energy for more than four years. The school sits next to a mountaintop removal site and about 400 yards away from an impoundment holding back almost three billion gallons of coal slurry.

Hansen is expected to give a speech about the effects of coal and mountaintop removal on the environment.

Demonstrators are planning to walk from the school to nearby Massey Energy offices. They say they’ll deliver a list of demands to the company and risk arrest by trespassing on company property.

Environmental group Coal River Mountain Watch is participating in the demonstration, according to co-director Vernon Haltom.

“What the other side does is up to them but unfortunately they have shown that they are not bound to the same constrictions of non-violence,” Haltom said.

“So we are hoping and praying that they are going to have their wits about them and be sensible.”

Tuesday’s protest is happening just days before a Congressional hearing titled, “The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia.”

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday before the Water and Wildlife subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Hansen has accepted Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s challenge to a debate about mountaintop removal.

The debate is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 24. Hansen says he will talk with or without Blankenship.

Hansen is inviting the public to hear his speech. The place and time are still in the works.

Representatives with Massey Energy did not return our calls for comment on Monday.