By Associated Press-
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — State Police charged three anti-mountaintop removal mining activists with trespassing and obstruction Thursday after they defied a federal court order and invaded a Massey Energy office in Southern West Virginia.
Climate Ground Zero founder Mike Roselle and associates Joseph Hamsher and Tom Smyth were taken to Raleigh County Magistrate Court for arraignment after they occupied the Marfork Coal Co. office near Pettus.
All three were lodged in Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, with Roselle and Hamsher held on $5,000 cash bonds and Smyth held on $7,000 cash bond.
Virginia-based Massey issued a statement offering a dramatic account of the morning protest, describing how “three criminals clad in fatigues and carrying chains invaded a company office and chained themselves to chairs in the lobby. A terrified receptionist went into shock and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.”
The claim about the secretary could not immediately be verified by State Police in Whitesville, who did not return repeated telephone messages.
Massey provided photographs showing Hamsher and Smyth in camouflage jackets and Roselle in a blue parka.
“They are now trying to provoke Massey members into a confrontation,” Chief Executive Officer Don Blankenship said, labeling them “domestic terrorists.” He said they “are part of an anti-coal group that wants to shut down mining in Appalachia and destroy West Virginia’s economy.”
