Read more in Coal Tattoo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a group of citizens ranging in age from 50 to 83 began a march against mountaintop removal Thursday, two more West Virginia political leaders called on Massey Energy to help fund relocation of a Raleigh County elementary school that has become a symbol in the ongoing coalfield controversy.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Nick J. Rahall, both D-W.Va., called on Massey Energy to help fund the relocation of Marsh Fork Elementary School away from a huge Massey slurry impoundment and coal-processing plant.
Rockefeller and Rahall made their comments in support of Sen. Robert C. Byrd's strong criticism of Massey following media reports that the company declined to help fund moving the school, currently located near Sundial.
"I certainly agree with Senator Byrd," Rahall said. "Massey Energy should take this significant step of helping to replace Marsh Fork Elementary School so that these children no longer have to fear the threat of adverse health effects of nearby coal operations.
"It would go a long way toward improving the good will of the public toward that company and the coal industry," Rahall said.
In a separate statement, Rockefeller said, "The hazards around Marsh Fork Elementary have been weighing heavily on the minds of parents in the Marsh Fork community for some time.
"Protecting our children is our first and most fundamental obligation, and it is right to expect the company to help pay for the solution," Rockefeller said.
Massey issued its own statement, saying it was surprised by Byrd's comments and defending the safety of the Shumate Impoundment at its Sundial operations.
The statements by Byrd, Rockefeller and Rahall were rare direct criticism of the coal industry by West Virginia political leaders, at a time when they are at odds with the Obama administration over U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efforts to more closely scrutinize mountaintop removal.
On Thursday, eight environmental activists began the first leg of a five-day, 25-mile march to protest mountaintop removal.
Led by 81-year-old military veteran Roland Micklem of Savannah, N.Y., the protesters plan to march from the state Capitol east to Massey Energy's Mammoth Mine complex near the Kanawha-Fayette County line. The effort was inspired by peaceful civil disobedience efforts by younger opponents of mountaintop removal.
Read more in Coal Tattoo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a group of citizens ranging in age from 50 to 83 began a march against mountaintop removal Thursday, two more West Virginia political leaders called on Massey Energy to help fund relocation of a Raleigh County elementary school that has become a symbol in the ongoing coalfield controversy.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Nick J. Rahall, both D-W.Va., called on Massey Energy to help fund the relocation of Marsh Fork Elementary School away from a huge Massey slurry impoundment and coal-processing plant.
Rockefeller and Rahall made their comments in support of Sen. Robert C. Byrd's strong criticism of Massey following media reports that the company declined to help fund moving the school, currently located near Sundial.
"I certainly agree with Senator Byrd," Rahall said. "Massey Energy should take this significant step of helping to replace Marsh Fork Elementary School so that these children no longer have to fear the threat of adverse health effects of nearby coal operations.
"It would go a long way toward improving the good will of the public toward that company and the coal industry," Rahall said.
In a separate statement, Rockefeller said, "The hazards around Marsh Fork Elementary have been weighing heavily on the minds of parents in the Marsh Fork community for some time.
"Protecting our children is our first and most fundamental obligation, and it is right to expect the company to help pay for the solution," Rockefeller said.
Massey issued its own statement, saying it was surprised by Byrd's comments and defending the safety of the Shumate Impoundment at its Sundial operations.
The statements by Byrd, Rockefeller and Rahall were rare direct criticism of the coal industry by West Virginia political leaders, at a time when they are at odds with the Obama administration over U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efforts to more closely scrutinize mountaintop removal.
On Thursday, eight environmental activists began the first leg of a five-day, 25-mile march to protest mountaintop removal.
Led by 81-year-old military veteran Roland Micklem of Savannah, N.Y., the protesters plan to march from the state Capitol east to Massey Energy's Mammoth Mine complex near the Kanawha-Fayette County line. The effort was inspired by peaceful civil disobedience efforts by younger opponents of mountaintop removal.
"We invite all citizens, age 50 or older, to join us in making this statement with our walking shoes: That our young people are not alone in their defense of our planet, and that we will continue to join their efforts to promote justice and ecological sanity," Micklem said.
The situation at Marsh Fork Elementary -- where more than 200 children attend school less than 300 feet from a Massey coal processing plant and just downstream from a huge slurry impoundment -- has become a rallying point for mountaintop removal opponents. In June, actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen were among more than 30 people arrested in an anti-mountaintop removal protest held near the processing facility operated by Massey subsidiary Goals Coal.
Marsh Fork's location has been debated before state environmental boards and in the courts, the subject of a four-year battle between citizen groups, Massey and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The simmering controversy increased in July 2005, after The Charleston Gazette revealed that DEP had approved permits for a new coal silo at the site, despite the fact that company permit maps showed the silo off the legal mining boundary.
Gov. Joe Manchin briefly took an interest in the issue, but then backed off after Massey President Don Blankenship filed a lawsuit alleging the governor got DEP to briefly block a permit for the silo to punish Blankenship for opposing a Manchin-proposed state pension bond.
Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court ended the legal fight over the second Marsh Fork silo. Justices ruled that an on-the-ground permit marker, not the maps submitted for public review to DEP, were the official permit boundary.
Byrd jumped into the fray late Wednesday afternoon, when he said Massey's "arrogance" in refusing to help fund a school relocation "suggests a blatant disregard for the impact of their mining practices on our communities, residents and particularly our children."
Massey responded by defending its overall safety and environmental record, and saying that the Goals Coal impoundment has passed all necessary government inspections.
"The most upsetting comments from Senator Byrd were those regarding our alleged blatant disregard for human life and safety because of greed," the company responded. "We work every day to ensure the safety of our miners and we are committed to improving the quality of life in the communities where our members live and work."
Davitt McAteer, a longtime expert on mining safety, said the issue with the Marsh Fork impoundment is not whether it meets existing safety requirements, but whether it's location near the school is a good idea in the first place.
"The notion here is it's not a question of whether this particular impoundment has a good record or has passed inspections," McAteer said. "The idea is you should not put an impoundment above a school with children in it. It's not a good idea to put an impoundment with millions and millions of gallons of slurry right above a school."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.
In West Virginia, mining companies are literally moving mountains to uncover valuable, low sulfur coal reserves.
Mountaintop removal has become the dominant form of surface mining in the state. Coal operators are blasting off hilltops, and dumping leftover rock and dirt into nearby valleys.
An untold amount of the state has been flattened, and hundreds of miles of streams have been buried. Find out more in this Special Report.
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That shouldn't be too hard for you to do, should it TB.
As I've never said ALL the parents opposed a new school, I'll rely on Ken Ward to cover my burden of proof. He wrote on Tuesday that members of the PTO felt the school was perfectly safe and no school was needed.
Of course two board members, who were present at the meeting by the way, decided to abstain from the vote so can it really be considered an UNANIMOUS decision that a new school was needed?
That sounds more like a situation where 40% of the board was told to either vote yes or not at all and they chose not at all so I'd take that as a no vote. But hey, that's just me and everyone else who actually has common sense. I understand what TB sees it differently.
So, who comes up with the plan? Coal companies do not have personnel trained in these areas. It has usually been their practice to point at a mountain and go boom. They do not fund or perform research on best practices for process or restoration. Do you want US to?
It does get kind of complicated. Packing density vs. erosion protection method; vegetation growth rate vs. preexisting species (DNR screws this one up all the time); existing drainage path and volume vs. contouring.
Just trying to relieve some of the tension on the other thread. We take issues personally, but should hold persons issuelessly.