Read more about the Goldman Prize.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Maria Gunnoe was born and raised at the mouth of Big Branch, a narrow hollow near Bob White in Boone County. She's lived most of her life there, at her family's homeplace, fishing in the streams, playing in the creeks and picnicking at family reunions on nearby Cazy Mountain.

But in 2000, a mountaintop removal mine began blasting, digging and dumping on the ridge above Gunnoe's home. Today, her house sits below a huge valley-fill waste pile.

Since then, Gunnoe has lived with periodic flooding and with water pollution she blames on the Magnum Coal operation up the hollow.

"It has devastated our property," Gunnoe said two years ago, when she testified in federal court, despite threats she said came from local miners.

Like many other Southern West Virginia residents, the experience turned Gunnoe, a 40-year-old former waitress and medical technician, into a full-fledged citizen activist. She speaks out at rallies, testifies in lawsuits and writes letters as part of the growing campaign against mountaintop removal coal mining.

For her efforts, Gunnoe is now being honored as one of seven winners of the annual Goldman Prize, a prestigious award given to grassroots environmental heroes from around the globe, the Goldman Environmental Foundation says.

"In the heart of Appalachia, where the coal industry wields enormous power over government and public opinion, lifelong resident Maria Gunnoe fights against environmentally devastating mountaintop removal mining and valley fill operations," the Goldman Prize said in a statement released Sunday.

The Goldman Environmental Prize, now in its 20th year, carries with it a cash prize of $150,000.

This year's winners also include a West African activist who faces imprisonment for campaigning against a destructive mining operation in a protected national park, a Russian scientist working to identify and safely remove toxic chemical stockpiles, and an Indonesian woman developing community-based waste management systems to stem her island nation's overwhelming waste infrastructure problems.

The winners will receive the prize at an invitation-only ceremony today in San Francisco, and will be honored at a smaller event on Earth Day in Washington, D.C.

"This group of Goldman Prize recipients are as impressive as ever, taking on seemingly insurmountable struggles and achieving success," said Goldman Prize founder Richard N. Goldman.

"In this, our 20th year, we are pleased to bring attention to their courageous struggles."

Read more about the Goldman Prize.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Maria Gunnoe was born and raised at the mouth of Big Branch, a narrow hollow near Bob White in Boone County. She's lived most of her life there, at her family's homeplace, fishing in the streams, playing in the creeks and picnicking at family reunions on nearby Cazy Mountain.

But in 2000, a mountaintop removal mine began blasting, digging and dumping on the ridge above Gunnoe's home. Today, her house sits below a huge valley-fill waste pile.

Since then, Gunnoe has lived with periodic flooding and with water pollution she blames on the Magnum Coal operation up the hollow.

"It has devastated our property," Gunnoe said two years ago, when she testified in federal court, despite threats she said came from local miners.

Like many other Southern West Virginia residents, the experience turned Gunnoe, a 40-year-old former waitress and medical technician, into a full-fledged citizen activist. She speaks out at rallies, testifies in lawsuits and writes letters as part of the growing campaign against mountaintop removal coal mining.

For her efforts, Gunnoe is now being honored as one of seven winners of the annual Goldman Prize, a prestigious award given to grassroots environmental heroes from around the globe, the Goldman Environmental Foundation says.

"In the heart of Appalachia, where the coal industry wields enormous power over government and public opinion, lifelong resident Maria Gunnoe fights against environmentally devastating mountaintop removal mining and valley fill operations," the Goldman Prize said in a statement released Sunday.

The Goldman Environmental Prize, now in its 20th year, carries with it a cash prize of $150,000.

This year's winners also include a West African activist who faces imprisonment for campaigning against a destructive mining operation in a protected national park, a Russian scientist working to identify and safely remove toxic chemical stockpiles, and an Indonesian woman developing community-based waste management systems to stem her island nation's overwhelming waste infrastructure problems.

The winners will receive the prize at an invitation-only ceremony today in San Francisco, and will be honored at a smaller event on Earth Day in Washington, D.C.

"This group of Goldman Prize recipients are as impressive as ever, taking on seemingly insurmountable struggles and achieving success," said Goldman Prize founder Richard N. Goldman.

"In this, our 20th year, we are pleased to bring attention to their courageous struggles."

Gunnoe is the third West Virginian in the last dozen years to receive the Goldman Prize.

In 2003, Raleigh County resident Judy Bonds received the award for her work fighting mountaintop removal. And in 1997, Terri Swearingen of Chester was recognized for her work against construction of the WTI hazardous waste incinerator across the Ohio River in East Liverpool, Ohio.

Gunnoe's activism grew in 2004, after a flood destroyed her ancestral home and covered her yard with toxic sludge. She began volunteering for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, to educate her neighbors about mountaintop removal. She organized monthly meetings, created neighborhood groups to monitor coal operations, and encouraged other residents to speak out.

In March 2007, the coalition and other groups won a federal court ruling meant to block or slow new mining permits. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a new permit anyway to the operation above Gunnoe's community, the groups sought an injunction to block it.

Days before the hearing, Gunnoe organized a media training for 20 local residents, some of whom were scheduled to testify with her. But about 60 coal miners showed up at the meeting, a move that intimidated most of Gunnoe's neighbors.

Gunnoe was the only resident who went forward to testify at the hearing. Environmental groups won an injunction.

Magnum Coal later closed the entire mining complex, citing not only the strip mining injunction, but problems finding workers for a related underground mine, increased government safety inspections, and "difficult geologic conditions."

Later, Gunnoe reported that threats against her and her family had continued.

"They want me out of here for many reasons and the main reason they want me out is because I am successful in organizing the community members here to fight their activities," Gunnoe said.

"I live on my family property and refuse to give up the only memories I have of my family before me. They want me out at all cost and I refuse to go, dead or alive."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com

or 304-348-1702