World climate-change forum may touch on W.Va. mine

Comment: No to Mt. Top Removal and No to Uranium Mining!

By VICKI SMITH

Associated Press Writer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. —
Environmental activists who want West Virginia 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.

Virginia-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, and a YouTube channel aims to build public participation by offering about a dozen virtual tours of so-called global hot spots. Most are not yet available online.

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.

While Google spokesman Aaron Stein said Wednesday 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.

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