Below:

• Make Massey Mind! Masses Amass Again May 31

• Protect the Blackwater Canyon Trail

• Art and the Mountains--Dream Away Mountaintop Removal

 Make Massey Mind! Masses Amass Again May 31
Join us at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 31 as the people assemble again outside Marsh Fork Elementary School and march to a spot just outside Massey Energy's Goals Coal processing facility to read a list of demands. Adjacent to and above the elementary school, Massey operates a coal processing facility (which uses all sorts of nasty chemicals), a dangerous coal sludge impoundment and a mining operation, all of which we believe endanger schools kids and their teachers.

Mining beside the Shumate coal sludge impoundment, which is above the Marsh Fork Elementary School. Photo: Vivian Stockman, May 25, 2005.

Directions to Marsh Fork Elementary from Charleston: Take I-77 south, approximately 4 miles past the big green bridge that goes over the Kanawha River. Exit at Rt. 94/Marmet. At the bottom of the exit ramp, take a right onto Rt. 94. Travel about 11 miles, take Rt. 3 East (left hand turn at Y in road). Whitesville is 20 miles from there and the school is about 10 miles beyond Whitesville. Watch for guides who will direct you to parking areas.

The Goals Coal processing facility. The school is the the complex of buildings just right of the silo. The impoundment is upslope to the left--follow the slurry pipelines. Photo: V.S., May 25, 2005.

We have archived news coverage of last week's events surrounding Massey's facility and the school--both the rally and a public hearing--here and here. Check out all the related news here. Please come be a part of the movement to end mountaintop removal by joining the rally on  Tuesday, May 31. For more information, click here.

Last Week--Massey: Hear Us! Photo: V.S., May 25, 2005.

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 Protect the Blackwater Canyon Trail
Click here to take action for Blackwater Canyon. Comments are due by May 31, but we hear that the U.S. Forest Service may take comments for a little while after the deadline.

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 Art and the Mountains--Dream Away Mountaintop Removal
“Dreams” are the theme of works by 13 artists showing now in the art gallery at Tamarack, off I-64 at Beckley, W.Va.  Poet/photographer T. Paige Dalporto, who is an OVEC member, has 8 photos in the show. Two of his photos, entitled "MTR RoarShock: Aftermath and Prelude," address concerns Dalporto has about mountaintop removal coal mining.

The two photos depict abstract images pulled from crystallized formations found in one of the Fayette photographer's developing trays. Though he leaves the final interpretation of these formations to the viewer, Dalporto was struck by what appeared to his eye to be two human
figures in the formations. One of them stands on a precipice overlooking a scene of vast destruction, not unlike what he has seen at mountaintop removal sites such as the one Boomer, near his hometown of Charlton Heights. In the other photo in the set, (Prelude) Dalporto sees a semi-human figure forming out of a dynamite blast.

Dalporto hopes other W.Va. artists will use their talents to address concerns they may have for the mountains. "Artists have traditionally been close to nature, especially West Virginia artists and poets. I'd like to see more artists speaking out on the problem of mountaintop removal through their work. I don't know whether I'm an artist first or environmentalist. But I just want to use the tools I have at hand to help effect positive change in the mountains."

Also appearing in the exhibit are: Bonnie Fuoco, Joe Watring, Bob Cleland, Frank Ceravalo, Stephanie Danz, Sandra King, Mark Wolfe, Jody Wright, Rod Queen, Emily Roles and Karen Sparks. The show runs through July 17.