Judy Bonds, who energized foes of mountaintop-removal coal mining, dies of cancer

Julia "Judy" Bonds, who became perhaps the most prominent opponent of mountaintop-removal coal mining in Central Appalachia, died today of cancer. She was executive director of Coal River Mountain Watch, a West Virginia group that tangled with many of the state's politicians and the nation's largest coal companies. She was 58. (Portrait of Bonds by Robert Shetterly, part of Americans Who Tell the Truth series; click image for larger version)

"She inspired thousands in the movement to end mountaintop removal and was a driving force in making it what it has become," the group's co-director, Vernon Haltom, said in a news release. "While people of lesser courage would candy-coat their words or simply shut up and sit down, Judy called it as she saw it. She endured physical assault, verbal abuse, and death threats because she stood up for justice for her community.  I never met a more courageous person, one who faced her own death and spoke about it with the same voice as if it were a scheduled trip." Bonds often cited Christian values in her work.

Anti-coal activist Jeff Biggers writes on The Huffington Post: "She was a tireless, funny, and inspiring orator, and a savvy and brilliant community organizer. She was fearless in the face of threats. As the godmother of the anti-mountaintop-removal movement, she gave birth to a new generation of clean energy and human rights activists across the nation." For more from Biggers and Haltom, via the Coal Tattoo blog of Ken Ward Jr. and The Charleston Gazette, click here.

Bonds received the $150,000 Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003 for her work. She was a member of the national advisory board of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog. She was recruited by an Institute co-founder, the late Rudy Abramson, who met her during his reporting on Appalachia about 10 years ago for the Alicia Patterson Foundation.