Our WUWT correspondent (and surfacestations.org volunteer surveyor) Michael Caplinger reports in.
Mike updates us from WV:
As of 10:30 am here I have not heard exactly when the protest will be happening today, and they apparently have not happened yet. They may not happen at the strip site itself (with drag lines, etc), but near (and at) a local school which has been having a standoff for some time about the construction of a new coal storage silo very close to the school. That is where they will also have the debate I believe (could be wrong though).
Here’s full tilt AGW side (with Blankenship video, etc) at www.Climatesciencewatch.org, Dr. James Hansen agrees to debate a major coal mining company CEO in West Virginia http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/hansen_to_debate_coal_CEO/
Here’s a WV NPR story..Daryl Hannah will be there…yippee: http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=10131 I like the quotes:
“Tuesday’s protest is happening just days before a Congressional hearing titled, “The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia.” The hearing is scheduled for Thursday before the Water and Wildlife subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Hansen has accepted Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s challenge to a debate about mountaintop removal. The debate is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 24. Hansen says he will talk with or without Blankenship.Hansen is inviting the public to hear his speech. The place and time are still in the works.”
Here’s a detailed story on Daily Kos from early this morning, Dr. James Hansen agrees to debate a major coal mining company CEO in West Virginia http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/23/71241/4424 It has the letter from Hansen to Blankenship, etc.
Here’s the latest news (an AP story) from the Charleston Daily Mail, from early this morning “Activists plan protest at Massey coal plant”
http://dailymail.com/News/200906230127
Here’s this morning’s Charleston Gazette. Not too much new but planning information. “Climate scientist Hansen agrees to debate Massey’s Blankenship” http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200906220554
Here is a 5-day old story on last week’s arrests, in the Coal Valley News, which is the Boone County (local) newspaper. They should have a new article soon. The previous group of 14 protesting here in WV (about 2 weeks ago), actually spent a day or two in jail as they could not come up with the bail.
Something interesting…“Ky. man pleads guilty in fake John Amos plant bomb threat” also in today’s Charleston Gazette (also the Metro News site) is a story about a worker at the John Amos Power Plant (one of the bigger coal fired plants in the East, near Charleston, and actually nearer the Winfield Lock and Dam) carrying out a bomb threat about a year ago. Last year there was a string of bomb threats, and this fellow was arrested for dong a least one (by leaving a note and then reporting it) “to get off work early”. There were about 8 other bomb threats but he was not charged on those. He was charged with a felony and pleaded guilty today. If only he would have just said he was an environmentalists protesting the plant, James Hansen would be there defending him, and who know, may have escaped the charge. These threats happened around the time Hansen was in Britain I’ believe testifying about plant protests there.
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200906230164
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=30964
MC
So much for a debate, I presume Blankenship won’t sully his good name by debating with the criminal element of society…
I like this headline better…yet to mention Hansen’s name in the headline. Same article though…
Darryl Hannah, scientist arrested at W.Va. mine protest
NAOMA, W.Va. — Actress Darryl Hannah, NASA scientist James Hansen and more than two dozen other mountaintop removal mining opponents have been arrested during a protest in southern West Virginia.
By The Associated Press
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NAOMA, W.Va. — Actress Darryl Hannah, NASA scientist James Hansen and more than two dozen other mountaintop removal mining opponents have been arrested during a protest in southern West Virginia.
State Police said about 30 people were charged Tuesday afternoon after they blocked W.Va. 3 near a Massey Energy subsidiary’s coal processing plant in Boone County.
They were among several hundred protesters who held a rally outside an elementary school that sits about 300 feet away from the plant’s coal storage silo.
After the rally, the crowd marched quietly to the plant and attempted to enter the property. They were blocked by several hundred coal miners chanting “Massey.”
Hannah, Hansen, former Rep. Ken Hechler and 27 others then sat on the road and were arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstruction and impeding traffic.
MC (12:55:17) :
Looks like Hansen found a way out of the debate.
Please, please, please tell me WV State Police release mugshots.
From an article yesterday…
“Both sides, along with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, were trying to work out arrangements for the event to take place Wednesday at Mountain State University in Beckley. A time had not yet been set.”
From radio news just now: Still no agreement on when/where the debate will take place.
Ok. Who do I need to complain to at NASA to finally get this clown fired. It is inexcusable for a government employee to be arrested at a protest.
Obama quote:-
“At a time of great fiscal challenges, this legislation is paid for by the polluters who currently emit the dangerous carbon emissions that contaminate the water we drink and pollute the air we breathe.”
Confirms what I thought for a long time – the man’s a loony…
Why did Hansen choose this particular mine site? If I am not mistaken, this is the old Armco mine, and the product is primarily metallurgical coal, not steam coal. Are we going to build windmills without steel now? I guess that we will build windmills from met coal mined in underground mines that don’t have preparation plants and don’t use anymore electricity than can be supplied by windmills. Should make for an interesting system of production.
Here’s the latest article…
Daryl Hannah, scientist arrested at W.Va. mine protest
SUNDIAL, W.Va. — More than two dozen people — including actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen — were arrested Tuesday in the latest protest in a growing civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal in Southern West Virginia.
By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
The Associated Press
A West Virginia state trooper arrests actress Daryl Hannah during a mountaintop removal protest on Tuesday.
SUNDIAL, W.Va. — More than two dozen people — including actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen — were arrested Tuesday in the latest protest in a growing civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal in Southern West Virginia.
Thirty-one protesters were charged with obstructing officers and impeding traffic after they sat down in the middle of W.Va. 3 outside Massey Energy’s Goals Coal preparation plant in Raleigh County.
Protesters dropped their initial plan to enter the Massey operation, and risk arrest for trespassing, when several hundred coal miners, family members and other industry supporters blocked the entrance to the site. One Massey supporter was also arrested, and charged with battery during a brief confrontation with protesters.
“Tensions were pretty high,” said State Police Sgt. Michael Baylous. “But nobody got hurt and we’re pleased with that.”
Those arrested in the protest were among several hundred people who gathered for an anti-mountaintop removal rally, held just down the road in a field adjacent to Marsh Fork Elementary School. Organizers picked the site because of the school’s proximity — less than 300 feet — to Massey’s operations, especially the huge slurry impoundment up the hollow.
“One Massey supporter was also arrested, and charged with battery during a brief confrontation with protesters.”
I hope he popped Hansen.
Hansen chose that mine protest site as it is more about the construction of a coal silo tower near an elementary school, which is a heart-tug to everyone, including us skeptics.
Mountaintop removal, and the side problem of constructing the silo beside the school, is a separate issue from CO2 driving climate change that will destroy the planet. I do not like mountaintop removal it either. I do not buy the CO2-driver-only concept. However, I believe he just hopes nobody notices that little difference. Maybe the CO2 issue is running low, considering the current cooling trend going in the opposite direction of increasing CO2 levels.
A friend who does business with Massey was going to call and ask about the debate . I havan’t heard back . From the cired arrest article , it looks like Blankenship might wind up in bed with the UMWA – strange times .
I don’t understand why Darryl Hannah is getting into tow with this crowd. She, of all people, must see that adapting to Climate Change is a far more effective strategy than the Canutian approach favoured by her fellow-travellers.
She’s proven already that sea-level rises are not an issue for her. It makes a sorry tail that she’s now getting splashed up on the front pages, for all the wrong reasons, along with her new chums.
“At a time of great fiscal challenges, this legislation is paid for by the polluters who currently emit the dangerous carbon emissions that contaminate the water we drink and pollute the air we breathe,” he said.
Lol – watch out Coke & Pepsi – they’re coming for you next.
It sounds like Hansen/Blankenship cannot agree on a time and place for the debate.
Last year there was a string of bomb threats, and this fellow was arrested for SNIP! a least
I think that ought to be spell checked…