The My Hero Project - Seniors will march to <br>protest mountaintop mining

Thursday, September 17, 2009
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)

SENIORS WILL MARCH TO
PROTEST MOUNTAINTOP MINING

Demonstrators rally against mountaintop removal coal mining, on the Capitol steps in Frankfort, Ky., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008. The protesters urged lawmakers to pass a bill that could curb what they say is a devastating form of coal mining that obliterates mountaintops. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

An elderly activist opposed to mountaintop removal mining is organizing a 5-day, 25-mile march of senior citizens from Charleston to a Massey Energy operation.

Roland Micklem, an 81-year-old military veteran from Richmond, Va., says he's rounding up volunteers 55 and older to join him.

Micklem was arrested last week after helping to block a road to Massey's regional office near Julian.

He plans to depart from the state Capitol Oct. 8 and arrive at the Cannelton Mine - owned by Massey subsidiary Mammoth Coal - on Oct. 12.

They'll meet up with other protesters who have been staging acts of civil disobedience all year.

Climate Ground Zero is organizing the march with Mountain Justice, Intergenerational Justice and Christians for the Mountains.

RELATED LINKS
Climate Ground Zero is an ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience in southern West Virginia to end mountaintop removal coal mining and its effects on our future.

Mountain Justice is both a call to action and a request for help from the people of the Appalachian mountains. They seek to save Appalachian mountains, streams and forest from what they consider greedy coal companies.

iLoveMountains.org 7 grassroots organizations from 5 Appalachian states have come together to use cutting edge technology to inform and involve Americans in their efforts to save the mountains. These make critical contributions to the effort to end mountaintop removal.

AP: Mountaintop Mining Activist Wins Global Award Despite threats and opposition Maria Gunnoe has kept fighting to stop mountaintop removal mining. And for confronting the coal industry in Appalachia, she is the 2009 North American winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize.

Christians for the Mountains is "a network of persons committed to advocating that Christians and their churches recognize their God-given responsibility to live compatably and sustainably upon this earth God has created."

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Last changed on:9/21/2009