People & Power - Coal River
People & Power

Coal River

The two sides of America’s energy future are at war in the coalfields of West Virginia.

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Two opposing sides of America’s energy future are at war in the coalfields of southern West Virginia.

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.