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Coalminers' Slaughter: In US, They Blow Up Mountains For Coal
KAYFORD, West Virginia - The traditional lifestyle of the Appalachian peaks of West Virginia is under threat from mining companies who blow the summits off mountains to reach the coal deposits that lie beneath the surface.
"They are killing off the culture of the mountain people," said Maria Gunnoe, who lives on a hillside which has had its insides dug out to expose a huge mine called Jupiter.
"We are fighting not only for right now but also for yesterday and tomorrow," she said.
Mountaintop removal mining, or MTR, is not only affecting traditions, but also polluting drinking water and air in the region.
In 2003, Gunnoe's home was smothered by a muddy landslide caused by Jupiter.
The well water she drinks has been rendered unpotable after being polluted by the mineral selenium, she says.
"They put profit above all -- above jobs and above people's health," said Larry Gibson, 62, an activist against MTR who lives in Kayford.
"Sometimes they blast 10 times a day and bury the waste and chemical products," said Gibson, who has been waging war against MTR for more than 20 years.
"Twenty years ago, I couldn't get two people to listen. Now people are listening," Gibson said.
He has transformed the 50 acres of land that belong to his family into a park, which is surrounded by 13 mountaintop mines.
"They told me once: you are an island; we will be the ocean," he said.
In the tiny town of Sylvester, 78-year-old Pauline Canterberry has opened another battlefront against the mining companies.
She and her neighbor fought long and hard in the courts to get the biggest regional mining company, the Massey Energy Corporation, to control the emission of coal dust from Elk Run, a nearby mine.
The US Environmental Protection Agency defines mountaintop removal as "a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal.
"Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys," it says.
Anti-MTR groups say at least 470 mountains in several states have been decapitated by companies practising the controversial mining method, and show satellite photos from the Internet to prove their point.
Chris Hamilton, spokesman for the West Virginia Coal Association, played down the environmental impact of the mining technique.
"Mountaintops are like brain cells: I'm not sure I can tell you exactly how many we have," he told AFP.
He defended MTR, saying the positive economic impact of West Virginia's mining industry far outweighed any negative effects.
"We export more coal from West Virginia around the world than any other state," he said.
"There is some occasional situation where a mine operation and a community come a little close together but I submit to you that it's not the routine, not the norm," he added.
"When you look at the volume of coal that's moved around this state to improve the quality of life and contribute to the economy of the world, (negative incidents) truly represent just a small fraction of the overall volume," he said.
Gunnoe has built a fence around her land, claiming to have been threatened because of her anti-MTR militancy.
Gibson, too, says he has been threatened.
"My camp has been shot at several times. There's been the killing of my dog, the burning of my cabin," he said.
Hamilton reacted to the claims of violence with incredulity.
"I don't believe that. We are civilized here in West Virginia," he said.
© 2008 Agence France Presse
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9 Comments so far
Show AllThe flattened mountaintops will finally provide a suitable location for WalMart superstores and parking lots in the rugged "Mountain State".
Why don't they talk about the corporations who fund the coal fired electrical plants, like BANK OF AMERICA? Let's get the whole truth out in the open and start naming names.
If they were so civilized in West Virginia they wouldn't be blowing up mountain tops for coal. They'd find some other resource to use for energy, like wind and solar!
The super rich establishment isn't civilized anywhere. Get Real! That's the reason the barbarians, oh I'm sorry that's not fair to barbarians, are running things.
The super rich establishment isn't civilized anywhere. Get Real! That's the reason the barbarians, oh I'm sorry that's not fair to barbarians, are running things.
We are all barbarians, we are all uncivilized.
We should>
1. Shut off all electrical appliances for a complete 24 hour period once every seven days>a sabbath of consumer activity is so very necessary.
2. Refuse to do business with mega malls that leave 12 million watts of lights burning every night.
3. Ask our landlords and property owners to shut off all of those unnecessary "night lights" that consume billions of watts every night. The reason for burning all those lights is to 'prevent crime?' Americans are not afraid of criminals, they are afraid of the dark.
4. After all of the lights are turned off we could turn our heads to the heavens and behold the face of God in the starry lights there.
And that's what Americans are afraid of.
"He defended MTR, saying the positive economic impact of West Virginia's mining industry far outweighed any negative effects.
"We export more coal from West Virginia around the world than any other state," he said."
One is reminded of vietnam and how we had to destroy the villages in order to save them....I think we got some work to do in goode ole USA.
www.StudentsForTheearth.org
It is incredible that the monsters of profit in this country say that they "believe in God," yet are eager to turn the garden "He" gave us into a toilet. Our species deserves what it gets. It troubles me that we have to inflict our shit on all life. Perhaps our causing extinction after extinction will in the end be known as the mixed blessing that it is for the lost ones. Good old bottom line has to be worshiped. If you're not wetting yourself in excitement while foaming at the mouth, "I got mine, Jack," then you obviously aren't normal.
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Repeat Chorus:
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
Repeat Chorus:
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.
Repeat Chorus:
- John Prine
thaddeus,
Agreed!
When I was young. I had 4:00AM paper route in a large suburb just 12 miles outside of Washington DC. In spite of being in a fairly built up area, the stars and milky way shone from the sky brialliantly on clear predawn mornings.
We needed flashlights when it was moonless to get from house to house without bumping into things, as there were street lights on only a couple intersections and were much dimmer than the mercury or sodium lights of today. Hardly anyone left porch lights on overnight. I can't imagine any such built-up area in the US like this today. A bright sodium vapor light on every single utility pole - and in every front yards in outlying areas, are now regarded as some kind of absoute necessity.
Besides an appreciation of the cosmos, people must have slept much better back then too.