For almost a week during a snow-covered West Virginia January, three activists stopped the blasting at Coal River Mountain. Climate Ground Zero activists David Aaron Smith, Amber Nitchman and Eric Blevins climbed approximately 60 feet up three trees. They hung banners from their platforms that read: ‘EPA Stop the Blasting’ and ‘Windmills Not Toxic Spills.’ Upon descent, they were immediately arrested by West Virginia State Troopers.  Massey Energy, the outsider company blasting away the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, sued the tree sitters for $75,000 and filed for a temporary restraining order in federal court. This videoshows aerial footage of the area being destroyed by the blasting.

Coal River Journal
By Jen Osha

‘It’s Not Over Until The Blasting Stops!’
Dynamite and Defiance on Coal River Mountain

I climbed a tree to defend God’s beautiful divine creations: the people who live below the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment being threatened with imminent death by the blasting, the plants and animals being slaughtered, Coal River Mountain, our air and our water.

A letter from tree-sitter Eric Blevins, read over the phone from jail

2010 dawned with dynamite—and defiance—on Coal River Mountain.

January brought intensified work on the Bee Tree mining permit on Coal River Mountain.  In this case, “work” signifies that the ridge has been stripped of trees and blown apart to extract the coal. My own concern about the dangers to residents from blasting so close to the Brushy Fork slurry impoundment has only grown over these last few months.  Many Coal River Valley locals have been concerned about the dangers of this impoundment years before additional blasting commenced on the mountain. 

And, believe it or not, the explosives are being set off as close as 200 feet from the largest slurry impoundment in North America: Brushy Fork. 

Yet, for almost a week during a snow-covered West Virginia January, the truly brave commitment of three activists stopped the blasting. Climate Ground Zero activists David Aaron Smith, 23, Amber Nitchman, 19, and Eric Blevins, 28, climbed approximately 60 feet up three trees. They hung banners from their platforms that read: “EPA Stop the Blasting” and “Windmills Not Toxic Spills.”  

I say “truly brave” because these three individuals purposefully climbed trees close enough to an active mine site to force Massey to stop blasting. They chose this course of action even though their decision would place them in danger from both the West Virginia winter as well as the physical and psychological attempts from security guards to break the resolve of the tree sitters.

Like the previous tree sit in Pettry Bottom, security guards used air horns and bright lights to attempt to force the sitters down from the trees.  An excavator was brought in to fell trees immediately around the tree sitters, and guards threw ropes up onto one of the platforms. Ground support attempting to bring supplies to the tree sitters (including ear protection) was arrested. 

After blocking Massey Energy’s operations on Coal River Mountain for nine days, Amber and Eric descended from their respective trees.  They made the decision to come down due to a steep drop in temperature. Upon descent, they were immediately arrested by West Virginia State Troopers.  Massey Energy sued the tree sitters for $75,000 and filed for a temporary restraining order in federal court.

While in jail, Eric wrote the following letter to the Register-Herald in Beckley, WV, and then dictated it over the phone to a support person at Climate Ground Zero.

This is in response to the article in Saturday’s paper about Amber and I coming down from our tree sit and the letter about paid, outsider environmentalists who support the EPA, which I read while sitting in the Southern Regional Jail.

I am not an outsider. I am an Appalachian. Virginia-based Massey Energy is an outsider. The people who live in the mountains and work on the mine sites work harder, longer hours and make less money than those who work at Massey’s headquarters in Richmond. All the people here should control how the land around them is used and they should profit the most from it, not people in an office far away who aren’t as impacted by the decisions they make that destroy our mountains.

I and most activists I know are not paid. We are volunteers. Groups like Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero help raise funds for legal fees and action supplies, but don’t pay people. Their money is donated by people who support the abolishment of mountaintop removal. They have budgets of just a few thousand dollars each. Massey has billions of dollars. They recently laid off workers and raised CEO Don Blankenship’s salary.

I and most activists I know do not support the EPA. They are not doing enough to stop the destruction of our mountains. While they review permits, the explosions are still going off in our home every day.

I climbed a tree to defend God’s beautiful divine creations: the people who live below the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment being threatened with imminent death by the blasting, the plants and animals being slaughtered, Coal River Mountain, our air and our water. The actions of my friends and I were nonviolent and defensive. Massey’s actions are violent and offensive. They blasted air horns and sirens at us in the trees almost nonstop for days on end. They have said that 998 people will die if the dam there fails, yet they set off explosives near it. It is an unlined earthen dam and those fail, like the one operated by TVA near my home in Tennessee that spilled 1.6 billion gallons of coal waste just over a year ago, practically destroying an entire community. Brush Fork holds back over seven billion gallons, for now. It may not hold it back much longer if we don’t stop the blasting.
—Eric Blevins

Since February 3, 2009, more than one hundred activists have been arrested for obstruction or trespassing on Massey Energy mountaintop removal mines in many different actions of non violent civil disobedience. The Coal River Mountain tree sit represents the most sustained intervention in mountaintop removal mining operations thus far. In a final communication from her perch, Amber stated “It’s not over until the blasting is stopped.”

It was heart breaking to see Eric and Amber come down, as we know that the mining will immediately commence on the Bee Tree permit again. However, the defiance against the dynamite is far from over. The week that Eric and Amber came down commemorated the 50-year anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins.  These sit-ins were an integral part of the civil disobedience phase of the civil rights movement.  Ironically, many of the students that participated in those sit-ins were trained at the Highlander School, near tree-sitter Eric Blevin’s homeplace in Tennessee.  The linkages between the civil rights movement and the growing civil disobedience against mountaintop removal coal mining become more clear as the violence—and the growing watchfulness and support for the protesters—escalate nationwide.

On a final note, I would like to honor a musical activist and friend who dedicated much of his life to standing up for the land, the rivers, and the mountains. Keith Pitzer died on the morning of December 22nd following a year and a half long battle with cancer. Keith and his wife Joan wrote and contributed "Under the Blackened Moon" on the first Moving Mountains, played on my song "Fiddler's Ballad," and wrote and contributed "Mountains of Blues" on our second benefit CD, Still Moving Mountains. 

Says Coal River resident Maria Gunnoe, “Meeting Keith and Joan and hearing their music was one of the few ‘good’ things that brought me to be an activist. I think it was in part their music that truly helped me to open up my eyes about what was being lost. Thank you, Keith Pitzer, for allowing your spirit to carry us through stopping MTR.”

The life work and love of Keith Pitzer is a testament to the ability of soul-full music to support and nourish a movement.  Please take a moment to listen to local Danny Williams’ speak of his love of the mountains, followed by Keith and Joan’s song “Mountains of Blues.” Here’s to Keith, his family, the tree-sitters, and all the radical angels of the movement…it’s not over until the blasting stops! 

The late Keith Pitzer and his wife, Joan: soulful music that supports and nourishes a movement.

Keith Pitzer performs ‘Mountains of Blues,’ from Aurora Lights.org’s second benefit CD, Still Moving Mountains

***

Honors For Journey Up Coal River Website

Journey Up Coal River (www.JourneyUpCoalRiver.org), an educational, interactive multimedia website about West Virginia's Coal River Valley, is this year's recipient of the Appalachian Studies Association's e-Appalachia Website of the Year Award. Aurora Lights was honored by this prestigious acknowledgement, which was first issued in 2002 and is based on the content, design and mission statement of web sites dealing with Appalachia and its people. The web site's participatory nature, through interactive maps, research methods, and community involvement, has resulted in a versatile and effective resource for students, teachers, activists and area residents.  This website is the companion site for Still Moving Mountains: The Journey Home and is a project of Aurora Lights.

Jen Osha is the Director and Founder of Aurora Lights, a West Virginia-based non-profit that is currently working to raise awareness about the social and environmental impacts of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Visit auroralights.org to learn more about the movement, purchase the benefit CD, Still Moving Mountains, or access educational multimedia resources about the Coal River Valley.

A unique combination of music, visuals, and community involvement, Still Moving Mountains: The Journey Home unleashes the passion and urgency empowering the movement against mountaintop removal at this critical moment.  All proceeds from the album will be used for grants and other educational and charitable purposes consistent with Aurora Lights' mission to raise awareness of the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining.

Questions and/or comments for Jen Osha? Write her at: [email protected]