from Earth First! Newswire
Today, James McGuinness and Earth First! co-founder Mike Roselle delivered toxic blasting dust to the West Virginia State Capitol, and initiated a hunger strike to stop blasting in Appalachia.
“Blasting mountaintops to mine for coal has been controversial in Appalachia since the 1970′s when it was firsts introduced,” said Mike Roselle, director of Climate Ground Zero. ”We believe it has never been legal or regulated. It destroys the streams that are the headwaters for our nations great rivers. The communities that live there have fought in every war since the American Revolution yet they are being displaced and even their cemeteries are being blasted and buried in toxic mining spoils. Most importantly, new studies have shown that breathing the blasting dust can be fatal. Is is past time to end the blasting.”
According to James McGuinness, “Our next actions will be on the blasting sites if this does not stop, and stop soon. At present, two million pound of explosives are detonated every day except Sunday in Appalachia. No on should have to live under this.”
This is not the first time McGuinness and Roselle have teamed up. In January 2009, the two joined other activists in chaining themselves to a bulldozer in Coal River Mountain in the inaugural protest of Climate Ground Zero. CGZ was also a major force in the mass mobilization, Appalachia Rising, which resulted in 100 arrests for civil disobedience. In another protest, the organization planted trees in a reclaimed mine site to protest the industry’s post-mine reclamation protocol.