NASA Scientist, Actress Hannah, Arrested in Coal Mining Protest

Actress Darryl Hannah is arrested by West Virginia State Police Tuesday, June 23, 2009 following a mountaintop removal mining protest in Naoma, W.Va. She was among several hundred protesters who held a rally outside Marsh Fork Elementary school that sits about 300 feet away from a Massey Energy coal processing plant. Photo by Jeff Gentner / AP.
Foremost authority on climate change arrested at mountaintop removal protest.

By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / June 25, 2009

For those who follow the climate issue, a top NASA scientist, James Hansen, foremost authority on climate change, was arrested at a non-violent protest of mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia. (Actress Daryl Hannah was also arrested at the protest.)

For an account of the action organized by Rainforest Action Network (RAN), go here, and here(from Michael Brune, executive director of Rainforest Action Network:

...I can't remember a more charged atmosphere. The majority of people surrounded one-half of the stage, supporting each speaker calling for an end to mountain blasting. Separated by police, the remainder crowded around the rest of the stage, wearing Massey t-shirts and shouting their disapproval.

I spoke shortly after Ken Hechler, the 94-year-old former Congressional Representative who has decried the effects of mountaintop removal in his region for more than three decades. "I want to thank Don Blankenship for inviting me to this rally," I began, to a mixture of catcalls and applause. I told the crowd that mountaintop removal isn't just a local issue, it's an American problem -- brought to us by Massey Energy and other coal companies...

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