Protesters bring coal silo fight to governor's office

Police arrested 14 protesters Friday afternoon who invaded Gov. Joe Manchin's reception area to protest Massey Energy's plan to build a coal silo near a Raleigh County elementary school.

The demonstrators were handcuffed and escorted to paddy wagons after police say they refused orders to clear a security area near the governor's reception area.

Ed Wiley, a Raleigh County grandfather who walked 455 miles from his home in Raleigh County to Washington, D.C., last fall to draw attention to pollution near Marsh Fork Elementary School, was among those arrested.

About 50 protesters took their fight to the state Capitol on Friday morning, vowing not to leave until Manchin agreed to sign a pledge to relocate the elementary.

Accompanied by musicians and carrying a cardboard replica of the school, they marched into the governor's outer office following a midmorning rally in the Capitol Rotunda.

The loud but otherwise peaceful crowd was initially met by Manchin Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Martin, who said the decision regarding a new school lies with the Raleigh County Board of Education.

The protest follows Tuesday's ruling by the state Surface Mine Board that reversed the rejection of a necessary permit for the silo.

Massey Energy Co. subsidiary Goals Coal Co. is seeking a second storage silo for its preparation plant next door to Marsh Fork. Manchin's Department of Environmental Protection filed an appeal Thursday challenging the mine board's ruling.

The DEP initially issued a permit for the 168-foot-tall silo but revoked it in July 2005, saying a Massey engineer had enlarged the submitted map's permit boundary from previously approved permits. Goals Coal then submitted a new application, which was rejected last year because federal and state laws prohibit new mining operations within 300 feet of a school.

Protesters want the school closed and a new one built at a different location.

In addition to closing the school, the group wants to shut down Goals Coal's preparation plant and an 1,849-acre mountaintop removal mine site and a 2.8 billion-gallon coal sludge dam about 400 yards from the school.

Don Blankenship, Richmond, Va.-based Massey's chief executive officer, said the second silo would enable the company to make additional environmental improvements and cut down the amount of coal dust at the site.