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Coal mining protesters near end of march in W.Va.
Only a handful of hecklers and angry motorists met a group of gray-haired environmental activists Monday as they finished a five-day, 25-mile march to protest mountaintop removal mining and arrived at a Massey Energy coal complex.
At a roadside press conference with a speaker on the hood of a car, they declared a small victory. If nothing else, they said, they spread awareness of a particularly destructive form of strip mining that they believe is destroying lives and communities across Appalachia.
"It showed a lot of people can do something, even senior citizens," said Climate Ground Zero activist James McGuinness, 53, of Rock Creek. "A lot of people are over 80 that came out and did this. I think it's incredible they walked the entire way and stood up for themselves and said, 'This has got to end.'"
Fifteen senior citizens between 50 and 83 carried signs and banners, some leaning on canes and walking sticks, as they trudged along U.S. 60 with a half-dozen younger supporters toward the Mammoth Coal Co. mine.