A week ago, Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks climbed individual trees on Massey Energy property in Pettry. They say they’ll stay there until Massey agrees to stop blasting or buy out the people living in neaby Pettry Bottom.
It’s the latest effort from Climate Ground Zero, a group of people involved in a campaign to end mountaintop removal.
A few miles down Route 3 you’ll find a group of three houses the town of Rock Creek where mostly out-of-state activists are living, such as Mike Roselle. He’s the leader of Climate Ground Zero, a group that is supporting the two tree sitters.
"They don’t want to come out of there," Roselle said. "If they ask for something and we can get it to them then we'll do that."
On Friday Roselle talked from a small room in the front of one of the houses.
"We have two people on the ground watching them at all times and we maintain radio contact with them they have cell phones and they are texting not only us but their family."
Last week, two of those “ground workers” Kim Ellis and Zoey Beavers were arrested twice for trespassing on Massey property.
Sgt. Michael Smith is the Whitesville detachment commander for the West Virginia State Police. He says he’s concerned about the safety of the tree sitters.
"It is a dangerous area," he said. "It’s a strip mine."
"You can't hardly stand up underneath those trees that's how steep it is."
Troopers are communicating with security officers with Massey to make sure there are no accidents. Sgt. Smith says if and when the sitters come down they are facing trespassing charges and possibly more.
"They put the state police in danger," he said. "They put any kind of emergency crew I’d have to put up there in danger. We may be able to appreciate the cause we just don’t appreciate the methods."
He hopes his people don’t have to remove the tree sitters.
"We’ve gone stranger places and got badder people," he said. "I don’t see myself at this point climbing 80 foot in a tree and bringing them down yet. I’m hoping it doesn’t have to come to that."
According to the Climate Ground Zero website the tree sit-in stopped blasting on the mountain for days, although there is no independent confirmation of that from Massey or the State Police.
Roselle argues that local West Virginia residents are at the mercy of the coal companies.
"The coal companies have so much power in West Virgina that even though mountaintop removal is not that popular across the state, it’s very difficult for the people here on the Coal River to stop or to even have it properly regulated," he said.
Carol Beckner lives up a steep gravel road in Pettry Bottom. Friday the bottom was quiet but on a normal day she says two blasts shake her walls and rattle her pictures.
"Like World War 3," she said. "It's been horrifying."
"We'd be sitting around reading our bible," she said. "All of a sudden here would go a big blast and everything on your walls would shake and move."
She started collecting dust samples from her vehicle and the side of her house. She says Massey started blasting on the mountain in 1993 but a few months ago Massey moved in just behind her house.
"We don’t have the finances to move," she said. "We've actually thought about trying to het Massey to even buy us out but we haven't got anywhere with that either so."
Carol and her husband live off their disability checks from the federal government.
She says she’s thankful that the tree sitters are trying to protect her and her family. She says the majority of her neighbors feel the same and the people who disagree have relatives who work for Massey.
"It’s like nobody wants to listen to the people from the community," she said. "If maybe people from the outside comes in and does something maybe they’ll start listening to somebody."
"They have to start listening to somebody."
Massey Energy did not return our request for comment but Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship told the Associated Press he plans to wait out the tree sitters.
He said, “The coal won’t spoil for a million years. I doubt the tree climbers will be there then.”