In August, we brought you the story of Coal River Mountain, one of the last mountains in West Virginia’s Coal River Valley that hasn’t been destroyed by mountaintop-removal coal mining. Residents are lobbying to build a wind farm on the mountain, but Massey Energy is moving ahead on plans to strip-mine a 10-square-mile area of the mountain, regardless of whether they have the permits to do so.

Yesterday, CNN covered the battle over Coal River Mountain and the plight of the residents of Raleigh County. They also got some great quotes from state Department of Environmental Protection officials and representatives from the office of Gov. Joe Manchin (D) about why they won’t step in.

Your support powers solutions-focused climate reporting — keeping it free for everyone. All donations DOUBLED for a limited time. Give now in under 45 seconds.
Secure · Tax deductible · Takes 45 Seconds

Stories like this don’t tell themselves.

Make others like it possible. Your support powers solutions-focused climate reporting — keeping it free for everyone. Give now in under 45 seconds.
Secure · Tax deductible · Takes 45 Seconds

“The governor sincerely believes as a country we can’t take anything off the table,” Lara Ramsberg, the governor’s spokesperson, told CNN.

Here’s the segment on Coal River:

To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How

Embedded video from CNN Video