About 50 protesters staged a demonstration in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis Saturday where Peabody Energy’s chairman and CEO Greg Boyce lives, marching a papier-mâché puppet of his image across Lindell Boulevard.
Just before noon, protesters affiliated with the group Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) gathered across the street from the Chase Park Plaza Cinemas on Lindell Boulevard with the more-than-12-foot-tall Boyce puppet.
Peabody protesters gather at the corner of Kingshighway and Lindell boulevard Saturday, June 22, 2013, with a papier-mâché puppet of the coal company’s CEO Greg Boyce.
The group marched across Lindell at Kingshighway Boulevard to the street corner near the entrance of the Chase Park Plaza hotel, where the puppet was used in a skit, prompting some passing motorists to stare and honk.
Connor McFarland said the group was protesting the St. Louis-based coal company’s use of fossil fuels and public tax incentives for its headquarters expansion downtown.
“As the world’s largest coal company, we see them as a major contributor of fossil fuel extraction and contributor to climate change,” McFarland said.
The protest kicks off what the group is calling the “Fearless Summer” campaign, billed as several weeks of actions across the U.S. targeting all forms of “dirty energy extraction.”
In response to the protest, a Peabody spokeswoman issued a statement: “While some groups specialize only in anger and protest, Peabody will continue to focus on meeting the world’s needs for more energy in an environmentally responsible way.”
Thousands of protesters from around the country have gathered in St. Louis in recent months protesting attempts by Patriot Coal to cut employee and retiree health benefits.
The United Mine Workers of America has aimed some of its criticism at Peabody, which spun off Patriot in 2007. Patriotfiled for bankruptcy in July 2012.