Climate Ground Zero founder Mike Roselle and associates Joseph Hamsher and Tom Smyth were taken to Raleigh County Magistrate Court for arraignment after they occupied the Marfork Coal Co. office near Pettus.
Virginia-based Massey issued a statement offering a dramatic account of the morning protest, describing how “three criminals clad in fatigues and carrying chains invaded a company office and chained themselves to chairs in the lobby. A terrified receptionist went into shock and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.”
The claim about the secretary could not immediately be verified by State Police in Whitesville, who did not return repeated telephone messages.
Massey provided photographs showing Hamsher and Smyth in camouflage jackets and Roselle in a blue parka.
“They are now trying to provoke Massey members into a confrontation,” Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship said, labeling them “domestic terrorists.” He said they “are part of an anti-coal group that wants to shut down mining in Appalachia and destroy West Virginia’s economy.”
The activists presented what they called “a citizen’s arrest warrant” for Blankenship and Marfork President Christopher Blanchard, including a list of violations at the Marfork processing plant, the Bee Tree Surface Mine and the Brushy Fork sludge dam.
Climate Ground Zero, based in Rock Creek, is waging an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience as it tries to stop the particularly destructive form of Appalachian strip mining, and Massey is a main target.
Massey recently won a temporary restraining order barring all protesters from trespassing onto any coal company property in southern West Virginia, and it wants that ban imposed for good. A hearing to make the injunction permanent is set for Feb. 23 in Beckley before U.S. District Judge Irene Berger.
Massey’s lawsuit named five individuals involved in a recent tree-sitting protest, but the order goes further. Berger’s ruling extends it to officers, agents, lawyers and anyone working with the defendants, including Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice.
Massey has sued environmental activists in state courts as well, and similar restraining orders have been issued there.
Last year, Raleigh County Circuit Judge Robert Burnside issued one against several protesters, including Roselle, a veteran activist who co-founded Earth First! and the Rainforest Action Network.
But Roselle said he has no intention of backing down.
“I won’t stop breaking the law until they do,” he said.
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