Recent College graduate Jimmy Tobias has been in jail for the past week after taking part in a protest affiliated with campaigns Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice to stop mining on West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.
As part of the demonstration Tobias, a former Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer, chained himself to a highwall miner on Massey Energy’s Bee Tree Surface Mine in West Virginia along with three other volunteers. He was arrested Wednesday night along with his fellow protesters, but ultimately halted Massey Energy’s mining for about four hours.
Tobias, who moved to West Virginia two weeks after graduating from this May, was unavailable for comment from Southern Regional Jail in Beckley, WV.
However, in an open letter posted last week on Climate Ground Zero’s web site, Tobias condemned society’s “money worshipping,” which he said ultimately leads to the destruction of the earth.
“As a member of the generation coming of age, I refuse to take part in that idolatry. I along with many others refuse to sanction the desecration of this earth, our home, and its inhabitants for the sake of a greasy buck,” Tobias wrote.
Tobias is currently being held at $ 3,500 bail on counts of trespassing, littering, misdemeanor conspiracy and obstruction of police activity. One of his fellow protestors was released on bail last Friday, while the other two are still incarcerated.
