Activists Arrested for Blockading Coal-Fired Power Plant in West Virginia

West Virginia Rising
West Virginia Rising

16 activists were arrested on April 9 for blockading the coal-fired Grant Town Power Plant in Grant Town, WV. The protesters called on U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) to stop blocking the passage of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act. Some of the protesters returned to the plant on April 10 to continue their protest.

Co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, Bishop William J. Barber II, said in a press release, “The nonviolent protest at Joe Manchin’s dirty coal operation exposes the political cruelty of the West Virginia senator, who helped this power plant at every step of his political career. The things he blocks hurt the poor and low-income people of his own state. And we know that poor and low-wealth people suffer the most when Sen. Manchin cooperates with extremists and treats our children and earth as expendable line items for profit.”