US judge issues injunction barring environmental protesters from Massey coal mine in W.Va.

Judge issues injunction barring W.Va. protesters

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Massey Energy has won a court order barring protesters from a West Virginia mine until a subsidiary’s lawsuit against them is resolved.

The order issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger covers five defendants arrested during a January tree-sitting protest at Massey’s Marfork Coal operation.

Berger extended the preliminary injunction to their attorneys and others working with them. But unlike the temporary order it replaces, the injunction doesn’t name Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice, environmental groups that have targeted Marfork for more than a year.

Spokesman Jeff Gillenwater says Virginia-based Massey hopes the ruling improves a potentially unsafe situation.

A defense attorney did not immediately return a call Friday.