Protesters to Alpha: Stop mountaintop removal

Apr 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Taylor Kuykendall The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.

West Virginians and Virginians visited the headquarters of one of the nation's largest coal companies to demand the cessation of mountaintop removal operations.

Alpha Natural Resources recently announced plans to acquire Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy with a $7.1 billion buyout. Massey owns the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, where an explosion last year resulted in the deaths of 29 miners, and was fronted by Don Blankenship, a man Rolling Stone magazine called "The Dark Lord of Coal Country."

Protesters with Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival went to Alpha headquarters in Abingdon, Va., Wednesday to ask Alpha to explore "safe and lasting alternatives to surface mining" in Appalachian communities.

One attendee was Junior Walk, a staff member of Coal River Mountain Watch and a lifelong resident of West Virginia's Coal River Valley.

"With the takeover of Massey, we are here to demand that Alpha stop destroying our mountains and communities," Walk said. "It's our hope that Alpha will become a responsible energy company and invest in a healthy and sustainable future for Appalachia."

Alpha, however, already conducts surface mining operations and recently unveiled a new website, TruthAboutSurfaceMining.com.

"Surface Mining, though not without its temporary environmental impact, is vital to development," the website states. "We must extract those minerals and precious metals that we all depend on for our energy, electronics, transportation, infrastructure and other aspects of everyday life."

On the website, Alpha busts what it calls "myths" about surface mining, including claims about water quality, social impact and reclamation.

Companies that mine from the surface typically do so because it is more cost-efficient to extract the coal. According to the Energy Information Administration, in 2009, all but four of the top-producing mines were surface mines. However, of the four West Virginia mines in the top 40 in production, only one was a surface mine.

Jane Branham, vice president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, said West Virginians and others in region suffer from the "toxic and devastating" results of mountaintop removal coal mining.

"I hear the same stories from people all over the world who see big fossil fuel industries invade their homes and rape their land for profit," Branham said. "Those communities do not profit by digging, drilling, fracking and blasting. They not only see their land and water destroyed, they see worsening poverty, negative health impacts and despair. Coalfield communities are among the poorest in our states. The only profiteers are the coal industry; the people are the losers."

Alpha representatives were presented with letters outlining the demands of the protesters and a copy of a study highlighting the benefits that would result from a Coal River Mountain wind farm.

"If Alpha is unwilling to put a stop to the destruction, the residents state they will continue their struggle on a local, state, and national level to abolish mountaintop removal mining and reclaim communities that have been devastated by this practice," a RAMPS news release states.

-- E-mail: tkuykendall@register-herald.com