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Stop mountain top removal coal mining - Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

DECAF Awakens Delbarton

July 19, 2003
Photos by Vivian Stockman

Delbarton Environmental Community Awareness Foundation

A Mingo County commissioner has said the county doesn't want any environmentalists snooping around. He sure doesn't want any enviros living in his county. Who needs those pesky people exposing Massey Energy's bad behavior?

Well, sorry commissioner. It seems there are quite a few residents of Mingo County who are environmentalists--that is, people who care about the future and who think coal companies ought to behave responsibly. Why, there's a whole nest of those type of folks living in the community of Delbarton.

How could this possibly have happened?

Maybe Massey Energy just got too greedy. A Massey subsidiary wants to expand the coal sludge impoundment that looms above Delbarton. Old underground mines come near to, if not under, the impoundment. That's not too comforting to Delbarton residents who know about Massey's impoundment in Kentucky, which spewed 306 million gallons of sludge into an old underground mine and out into area streams, killing aquatic life and contaminating water for 100 miles.

Folks in Delbarton are really wary of the Massey operation. Blasting from mountaintop removal encroaching on the town has apparently ruined water wells, and the overloaded coal trucks that barrel along the main road are making life miserable. Folks in the area see their mountains and their way of life under attack. So, they formed a group to fight back--DECAF: Delbarton Environmental Community Awareness Foundation.

DECAF is out to awaken Delbarton to the dangers of mountaintop removal. The group held its first event, a cook-out and information sharing session, on Saturday, July 19, 2003. See pictures from the event below. Stay alert for more from DECAF.