W.Va. pressured on Massey Energy blasting

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Environmental activists who want Gov. Joe Manchin to stop Massey Energy's blasting plans for the Coal River Mountain say the world is watching, and they plan to add pressure with a Google Earth tour created for a United Nations climate-change conference.

Richmond-based Massey has permits to open up reserves it says could feed power plants for 14 years. But Coal River Mountain Watch of Whitesville wants the company to stick with underground mining and allow the ridges -- some rising more than 3,300 feet -- to be turned into a 200-turbine wind farm.

As many as 15,000 delegates are expected for the Dec. 17-18 Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen.

The preview indicates some of the other tours will focus on water management in the Sierra Nevada mountains, rising sea levels in Bangladesh, avoiding deforestation in Madagascar, and the links between climate and health in Ethiopia.

Though Google spokesman Aaron Stein said yesterday that the company cannot comment on planned launches, Coal River Mountain Watch says it helped a crew from California two weeks ago as it conducted a fly-over of southern West Virginia. The team interviewed residents about the perennial battle between a local economy based on extraction and the need for clean energy sources.

Lorelei Scarbro, a coal miner's widow from Rock Creek, said she narrates the piece, which will show the rest of the world the destruction that state politicians are allowing.

"And hopefully, a whole bunch of them are going to stand up and take notice," she says, "because what they're planning to do here on this 6,600 acres is just part of the contribution to the major climate crisis we're in."

Manchin's spokesman suggests the governor is not particularly concerned about the prospect of additional pressure over Coal River Mountain.

"There's always going to be outside pressure," spokesman Matt Turner said. "But his first responsibility is to the views and needs of West Virginians."