Mountaintop-mining protests resume; 14 arrested

Days after the Obama administration announced plans to reform strip mining, 14 citizens were arrested after trespassing and scaling equipment on Massey Energy Co.’s mine near Twilight, W. Va., on Thursday morning. The State Journal reports that the protesters represented a group called Mountain Action and were trying to stop mountaintop-removal coal mining. (Read more)

Massey CEO Don Blankenship said the group endangered people and wasted tax dollarsCharles Suggs IV, a protester being held at the Boone County Courthouse, told Tim Huber of The Associated Press that the protest was well worth the risk. "We have been writing letters. We have been going to the courts," Suggs said. "We brought more attention to it. We stopped the dragline's moving. That's one of the most destructive forces out there." (Read more)