Background
October, 2010 Update: VICTORY!! Marsh Fork Elementary will be moved to new site in 2012
Marsh Fork Elementary School is located in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia. Goals Coal, a Massey Energy subsidiary, owns and operates a coal processing plant and a massive toxic waste storage facility (sludge dam) near the school. This seeping dam sits 400 yards from the school, and a coal silo ominously looms 150 feet from school grounds. This silo loads powdered coal onto trains and sprays it with a chemical binding agent. Another Massey subsidiary, Independence Coal, operates a 1849-acre surface strip mining operation above and around the school and dam.
When parents alerted the group to their children's health problems, CRMW began to approach and alert a number of government agencies. Members of the group took action to support Marsh Fork Elementary children and to show that this problem is one of the many devastating impacts mountaintop removal has on Appalachian communities.
