Mountaintop removal news

Cecil Roberts, speaking for the United Mine Workers says the union would not oppose a ban on mountain top removal.

From the Gazette:

"As a long-term goal, I don't think we would be opposed to that," said Phil Smith, communications director for the union and chief spokesman for UMW President Cecil Roberts.

"This is something we ought to be talking about," Smith said. "This is an agenda for future discussions."

OVEC provides a press release on the campaign of activists to block an MTR site near Hawk's Nest State Park. (Some excerpts):

ANSTED, W.VA. -- Early Saturday (April 5) morning, dozens of mountaintop removal opponents converged on Gauley Mountain for Blessing of the Mountain II, intending to pray near a mountaintop removal operation above the Fayette County community of Ansted. But, a similar number of employees of CONSOL coal company were already there, blocking access to the prayer site.

[...]

The mountaintop removal opponents read prayers, sang hymns and spoke against mountaintop removal. At one point, a CONSOL worker stepped into the midst of the service and it looked as if the situation could turn volatile. But the crowd began singing “Amazing Grace,” easing the tension between the two groups.

After the services concluded, many from both sides stood and talked calmly with one another about the need for change.

[...]

The Ansted Historical Preservation Council planned the vigil. Fliers for the event said people were invited to join in prayer, to seek “Divine intervention and wisdom to contradict the devastation created by mountaintop removal mining practices.”

The council has been organizing in Ansted and surrounding tourism-dependent communities, attempting to stop a 286-acre Powellton Coal mountaintop removal operation which would be visible from the New River Gorge Bridge and would affect the Gauley River National Recreation Area. The permit boundary allows mining right up to the boundary of Hawks Nest State Park.