Tree sitter begins fourth week of protest
August 10, 2011 ·
An anti-mountain top removal mining activist continues to occupy a tree near the Bee Tree surface mine in Raleigh County, where she has been since July 20. Wednesday marks the start of the fourth week of the tree-sit.
Catherine-Ann
MacDougal demands that Alpha Natural Resources stop strip mining on Coal River Mountain and that the
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection prohibit future strip
mining in the Coal River Watershed.
MacDougal was
joined by another tree sitter, Becks Kolins, for the first two weeks until
Kolins descended from her tree top perch.
The Bee Tree
mine is up for a renewal of its permit from the DEP and was the topic of a
public meeting last night in Raleigh County.
In a news release, the organization, Radical Action
for Mountain Peoples Survival, claims blasting on a portion of the surface mine
has been halted for the past three weeks.
When the protest began
last month, an Alpha spokesman said it would not disrupt production.