Posted by Last Tuesday, West Virginia State Police arrested NASA climate scientist James Hansen for trespassing on a Massey Energy-owned coal plant near the state’s Coal River Valley. Thirty-one demonstrators–also including actress Daryl Hannah and former West Virginia Representative Ken Hechler–were apprehended while protesting the company’s practice of mountaintop removal mining, which both perpetuates the use of coal as a source of fuel and devastates surrounding natural habitats. Hansen has long advocated against mountaintop removal, and criticized the Obama administration’s recent pledge to reform but not abolish the practice as a “halfway measure.”
- Hansen arrested on The Island of Doubt
- Hansen arrested in coal mining protest on A Few Things Ill Considered
