Mountaintop Removal Opponent Starts Hunger Strike At Capitol
December 2nd, 2009
An 81-year-old opponent of mountaintop-removal mining started a fast on Monday that he hopes will draw attention to and help end the controversial practice.
Roland Micklem was camped out on a chair in a public reception area outside Gov. Joe Manchin’s office, holding a sign that explained his concerns about mountaintop removal.
Micklem said he plans to visit the Capitol each day during his fast, but would leave when the building closes to visitors. He said he was not trying to break the law or get arrested, but hopes his action gets the attention of government officials.
In a news release, the group Climate Ground Zero described Micklem as a naturalist, teacher and environmental writer who is especially concerned about the loss of biodiversity caused by mountaintop removal.
“The loss of so many once common and beloved species has been traumatic and depressing, depressing to an extent that has resulted in a loss of enthusiasm for a field of study that had stoked my fires in bygone years,” Micklem wrote in an open letter, published on the Climate Ground Zero Web site, describing the reasons for his fast.
Micklem said in an interview that he fasted for 16 days in 1995 to protest the lack of coverage of global warming by local media in the Syracuse, N.Y., area where he lived at the time.
In October, Micklem led a march from Charleston to Mammoth Coal in eastern Kanawha County by a group of senior citizens opposed to mountaintop removal.
Micklem kicked off his fast a week before what organizers say will be a major protest against mountaintop removal next Monday at the headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
A week ago, four anti-mountaintop removal protesters were arrested after two of them locked themselves to a drilling rig at Massey Energy’s Bee Tree Mine on Coal River Mountain.
Throughout the year, activists from Climate Ground Zero have conducted a peaceful civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal mining.
Find More Mining News : Coal Mine Project - Coal Mining Exploration - Mining Environment
