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Demolishing Appalachia
A Wise County, Va., woman is among the stars of a controversial film on mountaintop removal mining that premieres today in Charleston, W.Va.
The film, “Coal Country,” looks at the negative effects of surface coal mining on Appalachian residents and communities in four states. Kathy Selvage, a Wise County activist opposed to mining practices used in the region, is among those featured in the documentary.
“I believe our hope is it brings international exposure to that and also that it furthers a conversation about where we go in energy policy in this country,” Selvage said of the film. “I hope it opens people’s minds to the problems that are the side effects of mountaintop removal coal mining. I hope it opens people’s hearts to the suffering that goes on in communities where this mining occurs right where people live.”
After the premiere in Charleston, more screenings are planned at film festivals and in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, said the film’s executive producer, Mari-Lynn Evans. The 90-minute movie also will be shown in thousands of smaller screenings around the country – including Bristol and Wise County, Va. – before it begins airing on public television.
Evans said she has worked to tell both sides of the story.
Barbara Altizer, executive director of the Eastern Coal Council, offered the same response she said she has given regarding other coal-related films in recent years: Viewer beware.
Evans, a West Virginia native, said she sought to put a face on those who are negatively affected by mining, but also on the coal industry.
“At the point we started working on this film four years ago, I had no idea it was going to come out in the most contentious, critical time in the history of the coalfields, but it has,” Evans said. “People need to realize what these coalfield residents are saying, and people also need to listen to these miners who say we
have three options: We work for coal; we work for a fast-food restaurant; or we leave the state. Because it’s a mono-economy, and that mono-economy has enslaved this culture of people.”
Altizer said that after looking at the film’s Web site she doesn’t think it really shows both sides of the story.
She said people need to look at the whole process of mining and reclamation – not just the way a site looks at a point in time – and consider that extensive state and federal regulations govern the process. She estimates that only 1 percent of the region’s population has been seriously affected in a negative way by surface mining.
“Anything you build you’ve got to mess up,” Altizer said, comparing a surface mine to a house under construction.
“It [mining] has provided areas for home sites, airports, shopping strips, golf courses … there’s lots of positive things out of it, and you just never ever get the opportunity to read about that. And when people see this movie, they’re going to be less informed about our industry.”
Altizer also said that in Southwest Virginia, where coal severance tax revenue has been used for two decades to diversify the economy, real development has taken place in industries other than coal, much of it on land flattened by mining.
“I hope you … will realize they’ve shown what it looks like at the beginning, and yes it’s not very attractive, but you can realize that after it’s been reclaimed there are a lot of beneficial uses and yes it can be attractive again,” Altizer said.
Evans said a divide has come to the mountains where coal is mined, between those who want more than anything to preserve their land and those who work for the coal industry to put food on the table.
“My brother is a coal miner. My sister is a rabid environmentalist,” Evans said. “This issue is so volatile, it really is brother against brother.”
She compares the situation to a 1921 march by West Virginia coal miners demanding better working and living conditions – a protest that turned deadly after law enforcement acted against the marchers.
“ ‘People that don’t understand the past are condemned to repeat it,’ is just a phrase that keeps coming through my mind,” she said.
“Why are these people [in the Appalachian region] the poorest in the United States of America when they are living on land that is the richest in the United States of America? It seems obvious from that alone that there is a problem. ... We’ve got to figure out how Appalachia is going to flourish in a future that does not involve coal.”
Like Evans, Selvage said she doesn’t have all the answers, but she’d like to see coal subsidies diverted to green energy projects and elected leaders in Richmond and Washington working on a solution that considers the region’s economic needs along with its environmental needs.
There is a need for technology-related jobs, she said, so the sons and daughters of the coalfields have a reason to return home after college, and so America can find the power it needs without destroying its mountains.
People here don’t need charity, Selvage said, they need empowerment and the means to earn a living while protecting the land they’ve cherished for generations.
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11 Comments so far
Show All“It [mining] has provided areas for home sites, airports, shopping strips, golf courses … there’s lots of positive things out of it..."
Wonderful; so highest and best use of this land, once reclaimed to a monotonous terrain of grass and invasive weeds, it will be turning it into sprawling suburban crap where it can once again spew carbon into the atmosphere in the form of car traffic. The average West Virginia car already has 100,000 miles put on it before it is three years old.
Meanwhile West Virginia's cites and towns are largely abandoned and boarded up and replaced with the big-box-chain sprawl on the flattened hilltops along the interstates and four-lane "Corridor" highways. I've never been to a state that has so abandoned it's main streets and local economics and former distinctive culture and crafts for Wal-Mart-style corporate crap. Ditto Eastern Kentucky.
Before anyone thinks of developing this strip-mine land why don't they redevelop their small-town downtowns and river-valley cities first?
West Virginia could easily become the "Saudi Arabia" of convective (available) energy harvesting. I'm not talking about many hundreds, or even thousands, of noisy, unsightly windmills, but rather a tenth (or less) of that number of attractive installations having no external moving parts, which could "crown" hilltops, that have been despoiled by MTR. Other than the plant itself, there would only be substations to increase voltage for electrical distribution, and these could be nestled into the hillside, surrounded by trees.
Distribution lines could be placed underground connecting them to a transmission line forming a central "spine" which would distribute the electronic fluid to both the east and the west.
I'm not promoting this as a "justification" for MTR, a horrendous practice, since it could "almost" be done as cheaply on a virgin mountaintop. However, when given a lemon, the best response, as the saying goes, is to "make lemonade". The funds from electricity sales should go a long way to help restore the local environment, as well as to obtain the "ultimate" revenge--driving the coal companies completely out of business by making their "wares" essentially worthless.
For a view of how one might look, see:
http://vortexengine.ca/misc/Asco-t-web.jpg
>>It [mining] has provided areas for home sites, airports, shopping strips, golf courses … there’s lots of positive things out of it, and you just never ever get the opportunity to read about that. And when people see this movie, they’re going to be less informed about our industry.”
These are positive things? This reminds me of the head of the Loggers Union here in BC way back who was speaking about protestors who were trying to block logging to an Old growth Forest in the interior.
He said (to the best of my recollection.
"A tree is not WORTH anything until it is chopped down"
The mindset of this person much the same. Cities all over the United States are considering Bulldozing neighborhoods because people have fled them for "Suburbia" and those Golf Courses, shopping malls and airports. But there no VALUE in wilderness unless it developed into the same.
There was a town in California that went out of its way to denude the lands around it of "wilderness". They wanted to protect the people from the wilds and so the habitat for the wild birds, coyotes, deer, badgers you name it all destroyed and paved over .
It became infested with pests...some 100 million mice overran the town. Along with them fleas, rats, cockroaches and other disease spreading produce eating critters that only thrive when WILDERNESS destroyed and when man displaces that wilderness with his shopping malls.
Revenge of the Environment!
>a divide has come to the mountains where coal is mined, between those who want more than anything to preserve their land and those who work for the coal industry to put food on the table.<
This represents how far humans have come from a true relationship with the land. At one time, preserving the land MEANT putting food on the table. We will all need to learn that in the coming times.
>“My brother is a coal miner. My sister is a rabid environmentalist,” Evans said. “This issue is so volatile, it really is brother against brother.”<
This is another way we've all been enslaved to the system--As in all wars, we fight one another instead of the system...
>Like Evans, Selvage said she doesn’t have all the answers, but she’d like to see coal subsidies diverted to green energy projects and elected leaders in Richmond and Washington working on a solution that considers the region’s economic needs along with its environmental needs.<
This assumes you can have both the growth economy and meet the needs of the natural world. You cannot. We must choose if there is to be any hope of future generations to live on the planet.
>There is a need for technology-related jobs, she said, so the sons and daughters of the coalfields have a reason to return home after college, and so America can find the power it needs without destroying its mountains.<
ANY kind of mining for technological needs does this, including mining for the raw materials for components for the manufacture of so-called "sustainable" energy sources... So, this is just a small taste of what is being done to the planet for a small fraction of the world's population (mostly wealthy white and western) to have energy [read: electricity]...
Too much pollution and resource depletion by an overpopulation of organisms from any one species and the environment responds by killing off many of the offending species through disease, famine and inter and intra-species competition.
If the only 'jobs' that YOU can find so that YOU can 'put food on YOUR table'---is dependent upon YOU destroying an other's home and environment---then YOU are a PARASITE.*
If "I" were one of those you wished to 'feed off of', you would be shortly convinced to 'move along'----'find other work'----'go hungry'----or if you insist; I can arrange for you to loose your appetite on a permanent basis---understood?
It really is that simple folks.
Until and UNLESS the people who are directly at risk here, stand up for themselves; they will be subject to the 'parasites appetites' ---and have little sympathy coming to them from a 'world full of people' who would fight to the death to own their own land---anywhere---.
* Parasites in the animal world are naturally occurring. There is in existence in the USA of a multi billion dollar industry, directly centered around the eradication of parasites, in pets, farm and ranch animals, Zoos, and in Human beings. The fact that they would be accepted in an 'industry'---no matter how many 'jobs' they created, is not only a disastrous contradiction but leaving it unanswered establishes a dangerous precedence. The fact that so many do not seem to question authority, until it is too late is a very good example of how Mr. Madoff----'made-off' so well.
Good Luck america, you really need it.
Mari-Lynn Evans is a friend from my hometown, but her roots are in WV. Working in conjunction with environmental groups, we of PDA have Ohio showings planned, and encourage others in our state to help participate in organizing and mobilizing for these showings. Not only here, but in your state with showings at house parties, public libraries and whatever venues you can secure for a showing.
Let's face it, when seen clearly this fine film by Mari-Lynn is a microcosm of the state of our nation and our democracy. Who controls both? We the people? Or is it the multinationals and corporate profit driven interests who rape our land while pitting working people against each other, all while pulling the strings of elected officials to do their bidding. And don't for a second think it is just the Republicans who bow and serve the god of Mammon. Look at the legislators, both state and national in these regions who refuse to look at the long-term interests of the people in exchange for their selfish short term interests. The list of Democrats are long and prominent.
Don't believe this issue is about jobs. Statistics show that Mountain Top Removal creates very few jobs and far less than traditional mining. This devastating form of mining could not go on in a region of relative wealth such as in the Berkshires or Maine. One can only wonder if the decade after decade of impoverishment in the Appalachia is not by design. This region is part of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse in our nation, and to allow MTR to continue not only marks the region in a permanent physical way, but also puts a giant black mark on our nation. The working people there should be the first in line for green jobs. Let's put windmills on top of them rather than bulldozing them into the valleys. Get involved in showings and help grab the reins of our future.
I have great respect for the CD community, and it occurs to me that some of the truly bright minds of this country read and participate here. We face, in this country at this time, a true crisis, mostly unnoticed or not understood by the population as a whole. There are reasons why this is true, but that is not the reason for this post.
Unless someone does something about it, our planet's population's appetite for energy may well be the cause of said population's demise, along with many other species. Malthus, it begins to seem, had it right.
While I believe that downsizing and simplifying life is the right thing to do, (I have done it-in so far as it is reasonably possible) we still are left with a system that requires huge energy inputs that we are getting in a terribly primitive and destructive manner.
Something must be done to provide energy in a non-destructive manner. I believe that perhaps I know a way to make a contribution, but have been for many years unable to afford the time or money to build even a working model. This does not involve theoretical pie in the sky fusion or high tech methods. It is, merely a different method of wind energy capture. It could, I am sure, be built of very low tech materials and using low tech methods. It could, however be easily built to a scale orders of magnitude greater than the largest current windmill.
I do not know where to present such an idea without fear of losing it to a GE or other mammoth corporate behemoth that would either bury it or utilize it to further enslave and abuse their customers.
Did I hear someone suggest "Patent"??? A very expensive and time consuming process, that sets one up for a lifetime of fending off thieves. I have made approach to a US senator from my state and got a truly laughable response, and a reprimand for not wishing it to be utilized to maximize some entity's profit.
This is NOT a solicitation for money--- but one for ideas as to how a new concept can be placed into use for the benefit of all.
If we really destroy everything in Appalachia, the we will be able to send in our troops to establish security, hold the territory and then build the infrastructure so that the people will be able to establish a democracy.
"We’ve got to figure out how Appalachia is going to flourish in a future that does not involve coal.”
Teach the people to value local production over global production. This drives local production, hence local jobs. These jobs happen to be for the benefit of PEOPLE. Now get to work!