Ben Sollee, Daniel Martin Moore and Yim Yames produced an album -- Dear Companion (http://www.npr.org/2011/07/04/130160618/appalachian-voices-on-mountain-stage)-- dedicated to the people of the Appalachian Mountains.

"Not only was it a musical collaboration, but they were united by their concern about mountaintop removal coal mining and its impact on the people and heritage of Central Appalachia -- Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia," Groce said when he introduced the group.

The musicians then sang a number of songs from their album.

One of the songs -- Fly Rock -- about the flying rock unleashed by mountaintop removal blasting, includes these lyrics:

"And in West Virginia the water's bad,

and there just ain't no peace to be had,

and that's the wrong way."

Of course, the same lyrics could be sung about hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking.

That's the practice of pumping massive amounts of chemical filled water underground to release natural gas to the surface. Fracking operations threaten to contaminate drinking well water throughout West Virginia and the Marcellus Shale region.

Chesapeake Energy is one of the major frackers in West Virginia -- and a major sponsor of Mountain Stage.

Chesapeake uses it's philanthropy to get results for the company's bottom line.

For example, from 2007 to 2010, Chesapeake donated $25 million to Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

While it was taking Chesapeake's millions, Sierra Club was much more fracking friendly than many in the Sierra Club grassroots would have liked.

(Earlier this year, after I made a series of calls to Sierra Club about the Chesapeake donations -- which had been kept secret -- Sierra Club admitted (http://corporatecrimereporter.com/chesapeake02022012.htm) to the donations, turned back an additional $10 million (http://corporatecrimereporter.com/lisawright02032012.htm) that Chesapeake was going to donate, and vowed to take a tougher stand on fracking.)

Last year, Chesapeake donated $25,000 to the Farmers Market in Morgantown, but then withdrew the contribution after the city of Morgantown banned fracking within city limits.

Also last year, Chesapeake donated $30,000 for band instruments for the Wellsburg Middle School band, but then withdrew the donation after the city of Wellsburg voted to ban fracking within city limits. To get the money back for the Middle School, the city rescinded the ban on fracking.

Chesapeake even cut off money they were donating to a West Virginia cancer victim's group -- Deb's Gang of Hope -- when group founder Rose Baker complained about fracking in Wetzel County, where she has lived all of her life. Baker says that the fracking by Chesapeake and other companies has turned her county into an industrial zone. She says her quality of life has gone from a 10 to a 3. (http://corporatecrimereporter.com/chesapeake01282012.htm)

Chesapeake sends a clear message to those it donates to -- don't bite the hand that feeds you.

That's why we're calling on all fans of the show including Mountain Stage alums such as Arlo Guthrie, Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, Crash Test Dummies, Barenaked Ladies, Ben Harper, Paula Cole, Nickel Creek, Cassandra Wilson, Counting Crows, Phish and REM -- to sign the petition urging Larry Groce and Mountain Stage to drop Chesapeake as a sponsor.

(http://www.change.org/petitions/mountain-stage-drop-chesapeake-energy)

Folksinger Peggy Seeger will appear on the Mountain Stage show as part of her last U.S. tour on March 25 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston. http://mountainstage.org/mtnstagelive.aspx

We asked Seeger to sign the petition -- and she did.

Join Peggy Seeger and sign the petition calling on Mountain Stage to drop Chesapeake Energy as a sponsor.

Mokhiber, of Berkeley Springs, is editor of the weekly newsletter "Corporate Crime Reporter."