"Chevron has neglected us," says Felicia Itsero, 67, one of the protesting women. "They have neglected us for a long time. For example, any time spills occur, they don't do proper clean-up or pay compensation. Our roofs are destroyed by their chemical. No good drinking water in our rivers. Our fishes are killed on daily basis by their chemicals, even the fishes we catch in our rivers, they smell of crude oil." ( see http://www.moles.org )
In West Virginia, the coal industry, which for generations has controlled West Virginia, is trying to jam through a special session of the state legislature a new law that would allow coal trucks to carry 120,000 pounds of coal - up from the previous limit of 80,000. There goes traffic safety. There go the roads.
Last week, the Charleston Gazette, the state's leading newspaper, referring to the protests in Nigeria, wrote this: "This drain the wealth pattern (in Nigeria), the essence of colonialism, smacks of the way out-of-state coal corporations treat West Virginians. We wonder if a naked protest (in West Virginia) would accomplish anything."
In West Virginia, the coal industry, which for generations has controlled West Virginia, is trying to jam through a special session of the state legislature a new law that would allow coal trucks to carry 120,000 pounds of coal - up from the previous limit of 80,000. There goes traffic safety. There go the roads.
Last week, the Charleston Gazette, the state's leading newspaper, referring to the protests in Nigeria, wrote this: "This drain the wealth pattern (in Nigeria), the essence of colonialism, smacks of the way out-of-state coal corporations treat West Virginians. We wonder if a naked protest (in West Virginia) would accomplish anything."