NASA climate scientist James Hansen was among those arrested Tuesday protesting mountaintop removal outside a Massey Energy operation in Raleigh County, W.Va. Gazette photo by Christ Dorst.

We’ve had more questions from readers about whether the debate between climate scientist James Hansen and Massey Energy President Don Blankenship is on or off … I wish I could say for sure.

The best information available right now probably comes from my friend Scott Finn over at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, who was working pretty hard to try to pull this one off. According to this post from the public broadcasting Web site, it doesn’t look good:

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship and NASA climatologist James Hansen have agreed to debate one another – just in two different places at two different times.

Hansen says he will stay an extra day in West Virginia after today’s protest for a debate. He accepted an offer to attend an event at Mountain State University at 1 p.m., moderated by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

But …

In a statement today, Blankenship said he would debate Hansen at a live televised event at WOWK-TV, part of West Virginia Media.

“This televised debate will enable the most West Virginians to participate in the discussion involving these important issues for the state,” said Mr. Blankenship. “I look forward to a productive dialogue about the future of Appalachia and the economic vitality of the West Virginia.”

When  I talked to Hansen today before his arrest at the Marsh Fork protest, he sounded like he wasn’t planning to stay beyond Wednesday, after already extending his visit for a day to try to work something out with Blankenship.

But we’ll see …

Updated, noon Wednesday: Blankenship issued the following statement regarding the protests:

“Today, more than ever, America needs jobs, affordable energy and energy independence.  I am confident that coal can help us meet these needs, and I believe that we should have a meaningful dialogue about the role coal must play in our energy and economic policies.

“The protests and pointless arrests by Dr. Hansen, a Hollywood actress and their friends do nothing to move such a conversation forward.

“It is my desire that a meaningful discussion of the issues will end these pointless protests that waste the taxpayers’ money and put our miners and law enforcement personnel at risk.

“In an effort to have real discussion about the real issues that affect real working families I have accepted an offer by  West Virginia Media television stations on Thursday, June 25 at 7:00 PM to debate Dr. Hansen.  I hope we have this opportunity to debate these important issues.”