This news story originally provided by The Lexington Herald-leader

July 10, 2005

Coal protesters march at Massey

200 CALL FOR CHANGE IN MINING TECHNIQUES

By Dionne Walker

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RICHMOND, Va. - Hoisting bed sheet flags and paper puppets, about 200 protesters marched to Massey Energy Co.'s headquarters yesterday, calling for a change in how coal is mined.

Led by the Mountain Justice Summer campaign, it marked the latest showdown between the nation's fourth-largest coal mining company and environmentalists.

Mountain Justice Summer is described by its participants as a non-violent campaign that calls for the abolition of mountaintop removal mining in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

On June 17, about 175 Mountain Justice Summer protesters staged a rally and march in downtown Lexington. About 10 Kentuckians had been expected to take part in the protest yesterday in Richmond, said Stephanie Blessing, a Mountain Justice Summer participant from Lexington.

At the heart of the conflict is mountaintop-removal mining. The process involves blasting rock and dirt from mountaintops to expose seams of coal underneath. The leftover dirt is then deposited in nearby valleys.

About 75 percent of Massey's coal mines are in West Virginia, said Katharine Kenny, vice president of investor relations. She estimated that 67 percent of U.S. coal is produced through surface mining methods, which she said are cleaner and safer than ever.

But environmentalists blame the techniques for the destruction of more than 1,000 miles of stream beds in West Virginia alone, and they say that noxious fumes from a coal operation are blackening the lungs of children at Marsh Fork Elementary in Sundial, W.Va.

"My grandson went to that school," said Julia Bonds of Coal River, W.Va., after giving a fiery speech against Massey. "I don't want to see babies poisoned."

Others remembered Jeremy Kyle Davidson, a toddler killed last August when a boulder crashed through his bedroom wall in Wise County, Va. The boulder broke free during nighttime construction of a strip mine access road; Massey Energy was not involved.

Jeff Winder, father of three from Nelson County, Va., was touched by the tragedy. He helped organize the protest and sang a song in honor of the boy.

"When I imagined a 600-pound boulder crashing through his bedroom as he slept, I had to do something," he said.

Starting near Virginia Commonwealth University, the protesters clanked, whistled and hooted down Franklin Street. Others fanned out along the sidewalks, distributing fliers on mountaintop removal to onlookers.

"I don't know how I feel one way or another," said Alice Tousignant as she scanned one of the fliers. "I'll definitely read up on it."