In defense of Appalachia, four arrested at east Tennessee mountaintop coal mine

Appalachian Mountain defense and anti-coal direct action is definitely on the rise in Appalachia and the southeast.
Today, four were arrested after crossing a line onto Zeb Mountain in
east Tennessee where National Coal Company operates a strip mine. The
civil disobedience was part of a larger march organized by United Mountain Defense, Mountain Justice
and Three Rivers Earth First! which included “a diversity of
coal-impacted citizens ranging from hunters fighting for the state’s
wildlife to religious leaders promoting environmental stewardship.”
Eric Blevins, one of those arrested, and a multi-generational Appalachian, said “I crossed an artificial line today because Appalachia is my homeland,
and its life is being destroyed far faster than it can regenerate. I
wanted to open people’s minds to how insane it is that we allow
corporations to own land without loving it and keeping life
sustainable.”
Corporations using strip-mining and mountaintop removal and those building new coal fired power plants are being challenged again and again by mountain defenders and anti-coal direct action activists. Furthermore, the financiers of the coal companies are being called out as well.
Appalachia has a time-honored tradition of resistance and civil disobedience and corporate America is being confronted with it head on.