December 7, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Robert Kennedy Jr. says mountaintop
removal mining is a crime, and if Americans could see it, there
would be a revolution.

Kennedy spoke Monday at a two-hour rally in Charleston where
environmental activists demanded state regulators stop
Virginia-based Massey Energy from blasting and mining the Coal
River Mountain.

Some 300 environmentalists showed up and were heckled by about
200 coal miners and truck drivers who drove back and forth near the
protest site, blasting their air horns.

A line of state troopers kept order.

Kennedy says industry touts coal as cheap and clean, but it's
neither.

Though it costs 9 cents per kilowatt hour, he says Americans pay
the price with polluted air and waterways that can lead to health
and developmental problems.