Kayford

Violence against environmental activists seems almost inevitable in the coalfields this summer as West Virginia politicians ignore the tense situation.

Irate coal miners disrupted the annual 4th of July community picnic atop Larry Gibson's Kayford Mountain, the only mountain left in the area that has not been decapitated for coal.

Coal companies blast off the tops of biologically diverse, densely forested mountains, dumping the rock and rubble into the mountain streams that provide drinking water for millions of people.