Lock down to stop construction at Virginia Coal Plant

Update: After four hours blockading the construction site this morning, 11 protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly.They are currently being held in nearby Duffield jail. As of 2:30 Monday afternoon they are still being processed, and bail is not yet set. Check back here or here for details.

At roughly 6 A.M. this morning 10 peaceful protesters locked themselves to steel barrels with functional solar panels attached at the construction site for a giant new coal-fired power plant in Wise County, VA with 25 local residents and allies from around the nation rallying nearby. Right now, at 7:33A.M. the lockdown, which is the first project of Rainforest Action Network’s new Action Tank, continues at the site where Dominion Virginia wants to build a 585 megawatt plant. Find out more about the long fight against Dominion, past actions and here and an upcoming Virginia Power Shift Conference. Pictures from the action deployment are up on RAN’s Flickr site and you can follow all the news and updates today at www.wiseupdominion.org more coming to itsgettinghotinhere later.

activists lock down at SW Virginia Coal Plant Construction Site in St. Paul VA

About Liz

While at the University of North Carolina, Liz led one of the first successful campus renewable energy campaigns in the southeast and won the Morris K. Udall scholarship in both 2002 & 2003. She organized the first Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference April 2-4, 2004, to engage other Southern schools beyond UNC in energy and climate work. In the summer of 2004 she became a co-founding member of Energy Action Coalition, which she has been actively involved with since then. She co-chaired the Energy Action Coalition Steering Committee for 2 years and is Executive Director of the Southern Energy Network, which works with students in the Southeast on clean energy and climate initiatives as part of Energy Action Coalition's Campus Climate Challenge. In late fall 2005, she attended the UN Climate Negotiations in Montreal and helped start www.itsgettinghotinhere.org . In 2008, she joined the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center (www.highlandercenter.org).

16 Responses to “Lock down to stop construction at Virginia Coal Plant”

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1 marleymiles Sep 15th, 2008 at 8:12 am

yip yip , Earth Warriors. Standing together in defense of mother Earth. Thank you to all the brothers and sisters who have come to our bio-region today to demand a just and sustainable future. Way to go RAN, way to go Blue Ridge Earth First!, Mountain Justice, SDS and all our friends near and far.
2 Danawv Sep 15th, 2008 at 10:50 am

Oh my goodness, these pictures are beautiful. As Larry Gibson says, “We are right!” You are wonderful.

I wish I could have made it down but I think I’ll donate my gas money that I didn’t spend to the bail cause, and see if that makes me feel better.
3 Matt Leonard Sep 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am

Great job everyone! THIS is precisely what our movement needs to do if we are going to beat the climate crisis. It is glaringly clear that the “solutions” proposed (and still not even acted on) by government and industry leaders are SO off-base from what science, conscience, and ecology demands. Actions like this not just take direct action to stop the problems - but reflect the seriousness and urgency of our situation - inspiring others to act, and raising the bar for what our “leaders” must do!

-Matt
4 Larry Yates Sep 15th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Thank you to these brave and focussed folks.
5 Matt Sep 15th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

In solidarity. Great, inspiring work.
6 Chris Sep 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Hats off to you brave folks. Bravo!!!

The direct action scorecard reads:
Eco-warriors 4
Dominion 0
Boo Dominion
7 Desire Grover Sep 15th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

You guys ROCK! Keep up the excellent fight. Power Peace and Truth to Power!
8 Scott Sep 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

check out the SF part of the action

this morning while 11 activists were getting arrested after chaining themselves to the Dominion plant, SF activists hijacked Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell’s slideshow at the Bank of America investor conference.

http://understory.ran.org/2008/09/15/dominion-ceo-punkd/
9 Josh Tulkin Sep 15th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

Associated Press wrote a story, Washington Post picked it up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091501393.html

Great work everyone!
10 Deirdre L. Sep 15th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

NICE!
11 Lily Sep 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm

Nice work folks, wish I could have been there too. Where can I donate my gas money as well? Anyone need help with bail money/fees? If so, email me! lkcavanagh@gmail.com
12 Stick Sep 15th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

What an honor to have so many Earth lovers in Wise County today to help stop Dominion’s disastrous plan. Thanks to everyone that helped today……as a Wise county resident I want to say thanks to neighbors out there today and thanks to all college students and thanks to all the folks from out of town that came to support our mountains and especially thanks to all yall wonderful humans that put your freedom on the line to help protect environment and the health of the people in our corner of Appalachia. YALL ARE MY HEROS!
13 mountaingirl Sep 15th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

I am so proud of you ALL!! Solidarity forever!
14 Mattie Reitman Sep 16th, 2008 at 5:38 am

this is the way.