When the history of the Earth environment’s defenders is written, current unknowns like activist Dustin Steele will be written large.
Steele recently took part with around 50 people in a protest organized at the end of July by Radical Action for Mountain Peoples’ Survival, or RAMPS against mountaintop mining in West Virginia in the United States. Steele was one of 20 arrested by police. He was reportedly beaten badly in custody. He has since been released.
The protest at Hobet mine in Lincoln Country was one of many actions that have been taking place across the United States to protest against destructive and polluting environmental practices.
The Hobet mine protest was organized by RAMPS. The group said its “Mountain Mobilization” event was intended to draw attention to mining practices that are endangering the health and safety of West Virginians and others in the Appalachian region.
Steele is one of many individuals joining together to say enough is enough.
Mountains are being blown up and knocked down for coal and it is claimed by scientists and environmental groups that the continued reliance on polluting fossil fuels is having a devastating effect on the climate around the world.
Supporters of the mining, including the companies and local and national authorities, claim the fuel is necessary to provide energy. Coal miners argue they need their jobs but the cost to them is one of poor health and even death from the side-effects of the mining. Little or nothing has been done to look into alternative employment options.
But environmentalists claim the methods used are crazy, knocking down the mountains and stripping out the coal.
“The coal companies are poisoning our water and air, and they’re treating the workers no better than the land — fighting workplace health and safety protections to get the most out of labor as they can,” protester Junior Walk said in a news release after the protest.
RAMPS promotion film
RAMPS Mountain Mobilization
Sarah Vekasi, with the Eco-Chaplaincy Initiative, wrote a report after saying that over a hundred activists were able to walk on to an active mine site at the Hobet Mine, the largest mountaintop removal site in West Virginia, and shut down mining at its source, while simultaneously holding a rally and trainings at a nearby park.
“Some activists physically locked down to the mining equipment until arrested and brought to jail, while everyone brought forward a message that it is time to end mountaintop removal coal mining and work for a just and sustainable Appalachia now.
“The demonstration was the first in a ‘Summer of Solidarity Against Extraction,’ so along with RAMPS, Mountain Justice and Appalachian activists, we had people fighting to protect their homes from Fracking, from the Keystone XL Pipeline, from the Coal Export trains in the northwest, and from Occupy Wall Street and Occupy D.C. The reality of blowing up mountaintops to get to the coal underneath, filling in valleys with the overburden, hence polluting the water supply of all nearby communities and permanently destroying the mountains is so outrageous, so horrifying, that this invitation went out to the world to come to West Virginia at the invitation of local communities to directly witness the atrocity of surface mining, and shut down a mine site with our bodies.”
In the bigger scheme of things, the Hobet mine protest was a mere pinprick – a short period of disruption of a massive mining operation. But, at the same time, it was yet another indication of a growing movement – as Vekasi points out – against the environmental destruction of the United States and to take action to prvent further serious climate change.
This is part of a worldwide movement by individuals and groups to tackle the major environmental and social issues affecting how we live on this planet.
These are early days and the forces of corporations and governments are strong. Yet people like Steele, Walker and Vakasi and groups like RAMPS matter in this movement. Their efforts are helping more and more people to rally for real change.
Dustin Steele speaking about the campaign
