Coal River
The two sides of America’s energy future are at war in the coalfields of West Virginia.
Two opposing sides of America’s energy future are at war in the coalfields of southern West Virginia.
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Massey Energy, a coal company, wants to mine Coal River Mountain using a surface mining technique called mountaintop removal, but local residents and environmentalists through acts of civil disobedience are trying to save the mountain in order to build a wind farm instead and mine coal underground.
This struggle at local level reveals a national conflict, confronting global warming while simultaneously stimulating the US economy.
Residents are hoping that Barack Obama, the US president, who criticised mountaintop removal as a presidential candidate, will intervene by banning the practice altogether, probably the only way the wind project on Coal River Mountain could prevail.
This episode of People & Power airs from Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 0600, 1230; Thursday: 0130, 1400, 1930; Friday: 0630, 1630; Saturday: 0330, 2030; Sunday: 0030, 0530; Monday: 0830.