Category Archives: Alpha Natural Resources
Statement from RAMPS Tree-Sitter Sent to Jail Today
Becks Kolins took a plea deal this morning (10/04) in Raleigh County Magistrate Court. They were sentenced to twenty-four hours beginning this morning. This is what they wrote before being taken to jail: On July 20th, 1 year, 3 months, 15 days ago, I ascended a tree on the Bee Tree Permit of Coal River [...]
Pro-Mountain Activists Block MTR Haul Road; Board Barge; Arrests Made
Five arrested blocking coal barge shipment with $10k bail, none arrested blocking haul road EPA, DEP, USGS make surprise visit to Kayford Mountain and haul road blockade FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 24 May 2012 Contact: Robert Livingston, 304.731.1740 http://action.mountainjustice.org Twitter: @CoalIsFilthy UPDATE: Joseph, Loeb and MacDougal were charged with trespass asked to leave and obstruction, both [...]
Pro-mountain activists board coal barge and blockade Kayford strip mine haul road
Follow coverage at http://action.mountainjustice.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, May 24, 2012 Contact: Robert Livingston 304.731.1740 http://action.mountainjustice.org Note: Photos available within 1 – 2 hours. KAYFORD, W.Va. –Mountain Justice and RAMPS activists blocked coal transport in two locations Thursday morning protesting mountaintop removal. Five boarded a barge on the Kanawha River near Chelyan, with a large banner that read “Coal leaves, [...]
Action Alert: Revoke Eagle II permit on Coal River Mountain
action alert from Coal River Mountain Watch. Take Action! Tell the Office of Surface Mining to revoke Alpha’s Eagle II permit. online petition In 2008, the WV Department of Environmental Protection granted Massey Energy a permit for mountaintop removal on Coal River Mountain. This permit allows Massey (now Alpha) to destroy 2000 acres of the [...]
Fighting Alpha in Federal Court
On August 30th, Eli, Becks, Junior and I were served documents informing us that Alpha was suing. They were demanding, we learned, an injunction that would invoke stiff penalties if we were caught on Marfork property in the future, as well as compensatory and punitive damages–an unspecified amount of money–for the “irreparable damages” that we [...]
Squirrel’s Pretrial
I was immensely disheartened to hear the magistrate’s flat-out denial of my lawyer’s request that our witnesses be allowed to testify on my behalf. During the past few weeks, I had been strengthened and moved by the willingness of so many people to make personal sacrifices to testify in my trial. Some of the witnesses [...]
Eli goes to court
I have already explained in video and through previous posts why I joined this fight for justice. I have not yet explained how I was also able to undertake this task through the bravery shown to me by the tree sitters in their mental and spiritual preparation. As Becks said in their most recent update: [...]
Alpha Postpones Hearing
Update–Today Alpha representatives attended the preliminary injunction hearing in Beckley. Even though none of the defendants were present, Alpha lawyers had the opportunity to demand either a temporary restraining order or an injunction. But instead of requesting an injunction right then and there, Alpha representatives asked that the hearing be postponed to give them more [...]
Lawsuit Update: Preliminary Injunction Hearing Today
“I refuse to attend a hearing that violates our constitutional rights to have a lawyer. They are suing us to scare us, to intimidate us, and to make sure others don’t follow in our footsteps. But we wont back down. If anything, this is going to only ignite us more” – Becks While the treesit [...]
Alpha is suing!
The tree sitters and their direct support received word today that Alpha Natural Resources is suing them for irreparable damages. They are seeking a permanent injunction, compensatory damages and punitive damages. As Becks says “we’re such awful people! glad the industry that kills, poisons, and destroys is able to put us in our place.” We [...]