The Concerned Citizens’ Coalition (CCC) of Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer Counties presented an educational public forum on mountaintop removal on Tuesday March 30^th at the Heritage Park Community Building in Spencer. Doors opened at 6 PM for the public to view informational displays. From 7 to 9 PM speakers representing all sides gave three-minute speeches on the controversial mining practice. The panelists then answered audience questions for about one and a half hours.

Panelists were: Division of Environmental Protection chief Michael Miano; Delegate Oscar Hines; David Todd, Vice President of Arch Coal; coalfield resident Larry Gibson; Janice Nease from the Coal River Mountain Watch; miner Zak Totten; Rick Abraham of the Logan County Coal Vendors Association; Teddy Hapne of the United Mine Workers; Cindy Rank of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy; Norma Steenstra of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group; and Janet Fout of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

Rick Abraham bused in perhaps 30 Logan County miners and their families.

Before the panelists began their speeches, tempers flared in front of a giant Charles Ryan and Associates (public relationships) pro mountaintop removal display ("It’s the right thing to do.") However, CCC’s Chuck Wyrostok managed to diffuse the situation. Perhaps the presence of the state police helped too.

Bob Hamburg of CCC served as the "time fascist," blowing an ear piercing whistle if anyone went over their allotted time. Roane County science teacher Bob Mertz did an excellent job keeping both panelists and audience within the forum structure. The strictly moderated forum gave all audience members an equal chance to ask questions, as names were drawn out of a basket. To save time and to prevent creating factions at the meeting, applause was not allowed. Janet Fout said she knows of no other group that moderates a forum as well as CCC. Cindy Rank said this type of forum ought to be held all over the state. For perhaps the first time ever, some Logan County miners listened to mountaintop removal opponents without booing. (EPA, take note of our forum structure!)

Because CCC attempts to keep as level a playing field as possible (no pun intended), the groups gained credibility with the local community and respect from opponents. An antagonist from Logan County that Chuck Wyrostok encountered early in the evening, came up to him after the forum to apologize and say he "respected the way things were run." Chuck told him we were all in this together trying to find a common solution.

About 200 people were in attendance. The local newspaper and radio covered the event, and gave us publicity both before and after the forum. Channel 8 from Charleston filmed the entire event.

Many thanks to the CCC members who organized the event, especially to Bob Hamburg who perfected the structure of the event and spent hours on the phone getting all the participants together. CCC will happily provide our insights on how to run such an event in your community. Contact Bob Hamburg at 655-8662, Chuck Wyrostok at 927-2978 or Vivian Stockman at vivian@wvadventures.net.