BLAIR MOUNTAIN PROTEST Groups Seeking To Protect Blair Mountain From Strip Mining Plan Protest
Reported by: Associated Press
Web Producer: Jeff Morris
Reported: Mar. 5, 2013 10:16 AM EST
Eyewitness News Photo
Charleston
, Kanawha County
, West Virginia
Several groups that have fought for years to protect West Virginia's historic Blair Mountain from strip mining are planning a protest outside Morgan Stanley's office in Charleston.
Mountaintop removal mining activists say they'll hold a rally at noon Tuesday.
Morgan Stanley is a major financial supporter of St. Louis-based Arch Coal.
Arch has permits to mine Blair Mountain, the site of a 1921 armed uprising by unionizing coal miners.
The 1,600-acre battlefield where 16 men died was briefly added to the National Register of Historic Places, and then removed when private property owners objected.
Preservationists have lost legal battles to stop mining.
They said Morgan Stanley has made a commitment to human rights, but funding mountaintop removal violates that principle because it harms the environment and people who live nearby.
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