Mountain Justice is a grassroots movement established in 2005 to raise worldwide awareness of mountaintop removal mining and its effects on the environment and peoples of Appalachia. The group seeks to encourage conservation, efficiency, solar and wind energy as alternatives to all forms of surface mining. It self-describes as "a regional Appalachian network committed to ending mountaintop removal". It seeks justice because the mountaintop removal (MTR) it opposes is a form of coal mining known as mountaintop removal mining which produces coal sludge toxic waste which is stored in a dam on the mountain and leaches into the groundwater, which poisons the environment, which defaces the top of the mountain, and which is not stopped due to political corruption.
The group is non-hierarchical, and decisions are made using a consensus model of decision making. In 2008, the group shortened their name from Mountain Justice Summer to simply Mountain Justice to reflect the year round efforts of their activities.
Group details Location: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
Mission Statement: Mountain Justice seeks to add to the growing anti-MTR citizens movement. Specifically Mountain Justice demands an abolition of MTR, steep slope strip mining and all other forms of surface mining for coal. We work to protect the cultural and natural heritage of the Appalachia coal fields. We work to contribute with grassroots organizing, public education, nonviolent civil disobedience and other forms of citizen action.
Historically coal companies have engaged in violence and property destruction when faced with citizen opposition to their activities. Mountain Justice is committed to nonviolence and will not be engaged in property destruction.
We work together to create diverse and sustainable economies in Appalachian regions traditionally dominated by the coal industry by supporting businesses, jobs and ways of living that are not environmentally or culturally destructive and are nourishing to the social and biological fabric of healthy communities.
Actions
June 7, 2005: First stockholders meeting of National Coal Corporation Disrupted On June 7, 2005, approximately 45 Mountain Justice activists, some in animal costumes, surprised the first-ever shareholders meeting of Knoxville-based National Coal Corporation with a marching band, chants, drumming and noise makers. Demonstrators demanded that National Coal stop mountaintop removal mining and distributed informational flyers to shareholders. The sheriff and National Coal Corporation responded by assaulting protesters with pain compliance, choke holds and arrested three on bogus felony charges.
June 30, 2005: West Virginia citizens occupy Massey headquarters On June 30, 2005, Concerned parents, grandparents and other citizens of Coal River Valley, West Virginia, with support from Mountain Justice participants, delivered a list of demands to Massey Energy's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, insisting that Massey respond. Two were arrested for trespassing when they refused to leave the premises until Massey responded to their demands. The citizens demanded that Massey shut down its preparation plant, coal silo, 1,849-acre mountaintop removal coal mine and 2.8 billion-gallon coal sludge dam - a toxic waste storage facility — located feet from an elementary school, Marsh Fork Elementary, in Sundail, West Virginia.Coalfield citizens arrested delivering demands to Massey headquarters , Richmond Times Dispatch, June 30, 2005.
Aug. 15, 2005: Earth First!/Mountain Justice blockade of Campbell County mountaintop removal site On August 15, 2005, Earth First! and Mountain Justice activists blockaded a road leading to National Coal's mountaintop removal coal mine in Campbell County, Tennessee. Activists stopped a car on the road, removed its tires, locked themselves to the vehicle, and erected a tripod with a person perched on top of it. National Coal workers arrived and threatened the protestors; one tried to ram the tripod with his car. Eleven people were arrested; the police treated the arrested activists very roughly, endangering their safety.Eleven Arrested Protesting ET Coal Mine, WBIR website, August 15, 2005.Tennessee Coal Road Blocked to Protest Mountaintop Removal Mining , Mines & Communities website, August 15, 2005.
June 26, 2007: March & Street Theater at Dominion Headquarters On June 26, 2007, 35 people with the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Mountain Justice marched in Richmond, VA, calling for Dominion Resources to abandon its plans for a Wise County Plant in southwest Virginia. The march began at Massey Energy's headquarters, where participants acted out a "baby shower" for newly mined coal. With "baby coal" placed in a coffin, the march moved to Dominion Resources' headquarters and a mock funeral was held for the coal, drawing a line between strip mining and coal-fired power plants.“Virginians say “No” to a new coal-fired power plant in Wise County; Protests at Massey and Dominion”, Mountain Justice, June 26, 2007.
Mar. 16, 2007: Sit-in at West Virginia Gov. Manchin's office On March 16, 2007, dozens of West Virginia community members - together with activists from Mountain Justice and Rising Tide North America - occupied the office of West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, in protest of the State Mine Board's approval of construction permits for a second coal silo near Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia. Community activists demanded that the state move the school; state officials have failed to comply thus far. Eleven people were arrested at this action, and many were treated roughly by police.11 Protesters Arrested at West Virginia Governor’s Office, Mountain Justice website, accessed January 2008.
Nov. 15, 2007: Rainforest Action Network day of action against coal finance On November 15, 2007, Rainforest Action Network activists - acting together with allies from Coal River Mountain Watch, Appalachian Voices, Rising Tide North America, Mountain Justice, Student Environmental Action Coalition, and Energy Justice Network - staged dozens of actions against Citibank and Bank of America branches in cities across the county, in protest of those two companies' refusal to stop funding new coal power plant development and coal mountaintop removal mining. In San Francisco, RAN activists attached caution tape - reading "Global Warming Crime Scene" - to dozens of Bank of America and Citibank ATMs, and held "cough-ins" in several branches. Similar ATM closure actions were held in New York City, Davis (CA), Los Angeles, Portland (OR), and St. Petersburg (FL), while protests against the two companies were held in numerous other cities.Thousands Take to the Streets to Protest Citi and Bank of America’s Coal Investments , Rainforest Action Network press release, November 16, 2007.].
March 6, 2008: Bluegrass at the Bank, Boone, NC On March 6, 2008, approximately two dozen Mountain Justice activists visited a Bank of America in Boone North Carolina to protest the bank's funding of mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants.Mountain Justice website, accessed 9/26/2008
March 28, 2008: Mountain Justice Spring Break action at AMP-Ohio headquarters in Columbus On March 28, 2008, activists participating in occupied the lobby of AMP-Ohio's headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and demanded a meeting with AMP's CEO Marc Gerken. Several people stated their intention to conduct a sit-in in the office if their demands weren't met; about 40 people protested outside. After 30 minutes, Gerken met with the protestors, and agreed to their demands: to schedule a meeting of the board of trustees at which community members could present their concerns with AMP-Ohio's proposed coal-fired power plant in Meigs County, Ohio. No arrests were made."Mountain Justice Takes On King Coal in Columbus", WattHead blog, Mar. 28, 2008.
June 30, 2008: Activists Blockade Dominion Headquarters On June 30, 2008, 20 Activists with Blue Ridge Earth First! and Mountain Justice blockaded the entrance to Dominion Resources' corporate headquarters to protest the company's plan for the new coal-fired Wise County Plant in Southwest Virginia. Four protesters formed a human chain with their hands encased in containers of hardened cement and a fifth dangled by a climber's harness from the Lee Bridge footbridge. After several hours police made their way through the miles of backed up traffic to cut the activists out of the lockboxes and barrels. The climber came down on his own. Police also detained eight others standing on the sidewalks supporting the lockdown team. 13 in total were arrested."Thirteen arrested in protest at Dominion today", Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 30, 2008.
July 10, 2008: Mountain Justice activists protest approval of coal gasification plant, Boston, MA
On July 10, 2008, nearly fifty Mountain Justice activists gathered in opposition to a coal project in Massachusetts, donning hazmat suits and delivering a pile of coal while displaying "global warming crime scene" caution tape on the front steps of the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs in Boston. The action was in response to the office dismissing an appeal of the state's approval for a coal gasification project in Somerset, MA.Mountain Justice Press Release July 10, 2008, Mountain Justice website, accessed, 9/26/2008
July 20, 2008: Four arrested at Tennessee strip mine
On July 20, 2008, residents from coal-impacted communities throughout Appalachia gathered for a march at Zeb Mountain, the largest surface coal mining site in Tennessee, to protest the environmentally destructive practice of mountaintop removal and surface coal mining. The march was organized by United Mountain Defense , Mountain Justice, and Three Rivers Earth First! and included political theater, life-sized puppets and rousing speeches.APPALACHIAN RESIDENTS GATHER TO MARCH ON ZEB MOUNTAIN, The Small Ax, 7/21/2008 In an act of civil disobedience, four citizen activists walked across a line marked with police tape designating National Coal Corporation's property. The four were immediately arrested without incidence and removed from the property by the Campbell County Sheriff's office.More anti-coal direct action at Appalachian mine site , Rainforest Action Network, 7/21/2008
September 15, 2008: 20 Protesters lock-down at Dominion coal plant construction site, Wise County, West Virginia On September 15, 2008, around 50 peaceful protesters entered the construction site of Dominion Resources Virginia's coal-fired Wise County Plant. Twenty protesters locked their bodies to eight large steel drums, two of which have operational solar panels affixed to the top that illuminated a banner reading "renewable jobs to renew Appalachia." In addition to those locked to the construction site, over 25 protesters convened in front of the plant singing and holding a 10'x30' banner, which said "we demand a clean energy future." Eleven were arrested. This action was organized by Mountain Justice, Blue Ridge Earth First!, Rainforest Action Network, Asheville Rising Tide, and Students for Democratic Society.Peaceful Protesters Lock their Bodies to Dominion Power Plant Press Release, Wise Up Dominion, website accessed September 15, 2008
March 14, 2009: 14 Arrested at TVA headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee