Protesters in trees at Massey mine site

Two mountaintop-removal opponents took to the trees of Raleigh County on Tuesday, hoping to shut down a Massey Energy operation they say is blasting dangerously close to nearby homes. Protesters from the groups Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice climbed onto platforms near the top of two 80-foot-tall tulip poplar trees just off the permitted area for Massey's Edwight Surface Mine near Pettry Bottom. Two other protesters stationed on the ground were arrested, but tree-sitters Nick Stocks and Laura Steepleton said they would not willingly come down until blasting at the site stops for good. They also demanded that Massey cover the full costs for blasting-related home repair and health-care costs for area residents, and until the U.S. Office of Surface Mining "commits to supervising the full reclamation" of the mine site. "I am sitting in this tree to halt the blasting that endangers the residents of Pettry Bottom and Clays Branch," Steepleton said in a statement distributed by Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice.