When Maria Gunnoe started campaigning against open-cast mining on the mountains above her West Virginia home in 2003, she could not have imagined the ordeal that would follow.
Over the past five years, her car brake lights have been vandalised, sand has been poured into her petrol tank and two of her dogs have been shot dead.
The intimidation appeared aimed at silencing Ms Gunnoe's criticism of a controversial form of mining that involves blowing up mountaintops to reach coal.
Contenders tread carefully through coal dispute
