We left Washington, DC, where energy policy decisions are made and drove out to West Virginia where folks bear the consequences and the true cost of our “cheap” energy. After a night in Charleston and some live music from a Detroit metal band, and some local hardcore funk
(the lead musician had “BASS” tattooed across his knuckles) we roused ourselves early on Saturday morning to join a local college class at a Lutheran Church for a short seminar on mountain top removal coal mining.
Judy and Lorella—a couple of tough silver haired coal miner’s daughters, wearing T-shirts that read “Save the Endangered Hillbilly”, showed us a film depicting effects of Mountain Top Removal Mining Coal Mining on the communities of Appalachia. The two women showed video, interviews with other West Virginians, and described the consequences they have seen themselves—tap water running grey, families falling ill to cancer and asthma, nearly 500 mountains blown up; over 700 miles of streams buried in rubble, and the poverty in Southern and Central Appalachia standing around thirty-percent.![]()
“If coal is so good for West Virginia, then how come we’re so gosh danged poor?!” Judy hollered indignantly.
“The folks of Appalachia are cut off from the rest of the country. People think that we’re a bunch of uneducated hicks and hillbillies. That image dehumanizes us and makes it easier for people to accept the
way the coal companies treat us,” continued Lorella, then led us up to Kayford Mountain, an MTR mining site outside Charleston.
A dirt road cut through a forest of brilliant autumn colors—yellows and orange leaves with glistening black trunks. Appalachia is home to some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world.
The rising peaks and sinking valleys gave way suddenly to a wall of crushed rock and sparse grass. “Valley fill,” Lorella pointed out. “They gotta dump all that rubble they blew off the mountain tops somewhere, so they fill in the valleys. They’ve filled thousands of streams all across Appalachia.”
“They say we need coal, Ha! Once that coal is gone, it’s gone forever and all we’re left with is the pollution. We need clean water to drink.” Judy followed.
Stepping up a mound of the broken rock we looked over the huge chasm where an ancient mountain had once stood and swallowed hard looking down at a wasteland, a gaping wound in the earth.
“The trees are clear cut, the topsoil scraped away, and then comes the dynamite. It takes centuries to build
up that soil, then they throw a little grass seed on it and say it’s ‘reclaimed’. That land ain’t never gonna recover. Least not in my lifetime,” Judy exclaimed with disgust. “All this for that tiny seam of coal” said Lorella pointing toward a thin black line on the wall of gorge.
”The laws are written by the coal companies and all the politicians they got in their pockets—from the
Governor up to the President. The people here ain’t got no say, no rights. You heard of a ‘Banana Republic’ before? Well this here’s a coal republic and violence against people who stand up ain’t no joke. Y’all be careful with that bus a yours.”
The next morning we found ourselves in the tiny town of Sylvester, West Virginia, little more than 100 people, five churches, one bar, and an enormous Massey Energy coal processing facility. After exploring the town on a quiet Sunday morning we all wandered back to the bus, where we met Jimmy—a stocky fifty five year old, bald head and a Swisher Sweet cigar in his teeth. Jimmy is a retired railroad worker, a hunter, gear head, and native to West Virginia. He took a liking to E and enjoyed having people listen to his stories, tidbits of folk wisdom and his jokes—“Y’all went to college? Yup I got two PhDs myself…post hole diggers that is.” We
spent the next couple of days in his care. We parked the bus behind his home, shared meals his family, rode in the back of his pick-up through nearby mining sites, and even accompanied him bow hunting in the surrounding mountain forests.
Jimmy displayed many of the internal conflicts and contradictions we met in Appalachia. When walking through the mountains Jimmy seemed at home, having an affinity with nature. ![]()
“I spend all day in these hills, just listening. When you listen you notice things, ya see what I mean. Ever since I was a boy I been here. It’s a shame to so much of it go.”
When the conversation would shift to mountain top removal coal mining, there was a disconnect from previous conversations. “Man’s gotta make a living. Don’t he? I won’t even take the money from Massey when the city makes ‘em pay everyone in the town.”
“Don’t you think he owes the people of this town something for getting wealthy off the minerals of this land that belong to everyone?”
“He puts people to work. People need jobs and if he isn’t mining this coal someone else will. He does it cheaper. People make a fuss and don’t realize that things change.”![]()
Many West Virginians are proud of their mining heritage, the long hard hours in the mine to providing for their families and providing the energy to “keep the lights on.” Many people defend coal mining against outsiders who they assume, often rightly, know nothing about their situation.
Jimmy also sees his hunting grounds being destroyed and neighbors out of jobs. Hidden from his view over the first rise of hills are the wastelands that cover thousands of acres. He says that a man’s got to have a job but as machines and dynamite replace miners the jobs dwindle and the unions disintegrate along with mountain-tops.
“A man’s got to be smart and look out for himself, ya see what I mean,” he says. But Jimmy also has a young son and is concerned about what kind of a world he will inherit, and though we had plenty of differences of opinion, this concern we shared.
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