Appalachian Voices’ JW Randolph on “Truthout”

Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate JW Randolph was quoted on Friday in an article by the news organization Truthout. The piece, entitled Protesters Crash Massey Energy Lunch, but Don’t Sway Conversation, was about Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s recent July 22 luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. There, Blankenship argued that expanding surface mining is essential not only for the US economy but also global health.

Randolph’s presence at the event offered a refreshingly sane perspective on surface mining in Appalachia and a not so refreshing jar of murky tap water from a home in the heavily strip mined Mingo County in West Virginia.

“We want every American to see … that Massey Energy creates dangerous communities for anybody living in Appalachia,” the article quotes Randolph.

Click here to read the entire piece.

For more on Massey’s less than earnest PR campaign head over to Coal Tattoo. Ken Ward Jr.’s insightful blog has covered the company’s shenanigans in depth.

About Jed Grubbs

Jed worked with Appalachian Voices as a Communications Specialist and the primary Front Porch blogger during spring/summer 2010.