I had the privilege of meeting Chuck Nelson in 2008, when Ohio Citizen Action joined the fight against mountaintop removal coal mining. He, Judy Bonds and Larry Gibson were a formidable trio working to reveal the all-out assault by the coal industry on the people and landscape they loved most. They did more than that though, they fought and organized and testified and they inspired many people like myself to care and to act too. Chuck was a coal miner most of his working life. When he spoke about how coal companies betrayed their workers, destroyed the land and paid politicians to look the other way, you could tell he lived it. His voice may have been soft, but you could hear the frustration and rage underneath and the desire for justice that drove him on. Rest well, sir. You will be missed.
-Melissa English
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