Today, thanks to an extraordinary West Virginia grass-roots campaign that has reached millions of people across the country, the nation's eyes will be focused on the Bee Tree Branch area in the Coal River Mountain range.

Gov. Manchin, the nation will also be watching you. Unless you or the courts intervene, the world will not only witness the destruction of another beautiful mountain stream and community in West Virginia, but the tragically missed opportunity for your state to become a leader in bringing renewable energy independence to our nation.

Massey Energy has announced its intent to begin blasting the first 200 acres of the proposed 1,100-acre Bee Tree surface mine in the Coal River community, even though they lack a 404 Clean Water Act permit from the Army Corps of Engineers or an approved plan for the ramifications of valley fills and in-stream sediment ponds.

As you know, the Coal River Valley has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. Since 1783, many of its first residents settled on land grants for Revolutionary War veterans who bled and fought for the cause of freedom and independence, and built the West Virginia foundations of our great country.

Today, the descendants of those American heroes want to continue the spirit of the American way for independence and freedom.

Drawing on the ingenuity of their coal mining community and national energy experts, they have proposed the Coal River Wind Project to create jobs, generate energy and preserve the mountains and mountaineer heritage. Through a combination of a wind farm and underground mining, the Coal River Wind Project would place West Virginia in the forefront of the clean energy movement in the United States, and like your colleague Gov. Brian Schweitzer in Montana, allow you as governor to take the national stage and lead West Virginia in the same direction.

The Bee Tree Branch area is vital to this innovative job creation and energy development project. If the blasting proceeds, it will immediately eliminate the potential for 24 megawatts of wind power development, and could eventually impact a total of 208 megawatts of wind potential available across and surrounding the Bee Tree surface mine permit area.

The illegitimate blasting of Bee Tree Branch will not only strip the range of its resources, its tributaries and forests, its history and its meaning; it will rob West Virginians of the possibility of creating long-lasting jobs and energy. It will resound as the death knell of an American and Appalachian way of life, and a rejection of any opportunities for a sustainable future for the area.

I am writing to ask you to consider a stay of execution of the Bee Tree Branch area, and all of Coal River Mountain by rescinding and rejecting the remaining permits; to call for a thorough investigation of the necessary questions regarding the Bee Tree Branch and valley fills, sediment ponds, the maintenance of sediment ditches, and the impact on the Brushy Fork Impoundment; and to set up a commission to study the Coal River Wind Project and its implications for the state's energy plan.

Now is the time for you, as the governor of this great state, to make a historic move for change and renewable energy independence.

Biggers is the author of "The United States of Appalachia."

Today, thanks to an extraordinary West Virginia grass-roots campaign that has reached millions of people across the country, the nation's eyes will be focused on the Bee Tree Branch area in the Coal River Mountain range.

Gov. Manchin, the nation will also be watching you. Unless you or the courts intervene, the world will not only witness the destruction of another beautiful mountain stream and community in West Virginia, but the tragically missed opportunity for your state to become a leader in bringing renewable energy independence to our nation.

Massey Energy has announced its intent to begin blasting the first 200 acres of the proposed 1,100-acre Bee Tree surface mine in the Coal River community, even though they lack a 404 Clean Water Act permit from the Army Corps of Engineers or an approved plan for the ramifications of valley fills and in-stream sediment ponds.

As you know, the Coal River Valley has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. Since 1783, many of its first residents settled on land grants for Revolutionary War veterans who bled and fought for the cause of freedom and independence, and built the West Virginia foundations of our great country.

Today, the descendants of those American heroes want to continue the spirit of the American way for independence and freedom.

Drawing on the ingenuity of their coal mining community and national energy experts, they have proposed the Coal River Wind Project to create jobs, generate energy and preserve the mountains and mountaineer heritage. Through a combination of a wind farm and underground mining, the Coal River Wind Project would place West Virginia in the forefront of the clean energy movement in the United States, and like your colleague Gov. Brian Schweitzer in Montana, allow you as governor to take the national stage and lead West Virginia in the same direction.

The Bee Tree Branch area is vital to this innovative job creation and energy development project. If the blasting proceeds, it will immediately eliminate the potential for 24 megawatts of wind power development, and could eventually impact a total of 208 megawatts of wind potential available across and surrounding the Bee Tree surface mine permit area.

The illegitimate blasting of Bee Tree Branch will not only strip the range of its resources, its tributaries and forests, its history and its meaning; it will rob West Virginians of the possibility of creating long-lasting jobs and energy. It will resound as the death knell of an American and Appalachian way of life, and a rejection of any opportunities for a sustainable future for the area.

I am writing to ask you to consider a stay of execution of the Bee Tree Branch area, and all of Coal River Mountain by rescinding and rejecting the remaining permits; to call for a thorough investigation of the necessary questions regarding the Bee Tree Branch and valley fills, sediment ponds, the maintenance of sediment ditches, and the impact on the Brushy Fork Impoundment; and to set up a commission to study the Coal River Wind Project and its implications for the state's energy plan.

Now is the time for you, as the governor of this great state, to make a historic move for change and renewable energy independence.

Biggers is the author of "The United States of Appalachia."