When it comes to stopping Massey Energy from destroying Coal River Mountain, the last (largely) untouched ridge in South Central West Virginia, Governor Joe Manchin is adament that he does not get involved in the permitting process for mountaintop removal.

Manchin has made this known repeatedly. It does not matter that thousands have begged him to save Coal River Mountain. It does not matter that the mountain is ideal for an industrial wind farm that would bring permanent, high-paying, “clean” jobs. It does not matter that residents living beneath the mountain spent their own money to commision a study to show that a wind-farm would be ideal. It does not matter that blasting the mountain could rupture a nearby earthen dam that holds back 8 billion gallons of coal slurry. It just does not matter: Manchin does NOT get involved in the permitting process of mountaintop removal.

Until doing so would benefit the mountaintop removal industry…

On Tuesday a Federal Judge halted operations (after allowing a 60 day extension period) on a massive strip-mine in Clay County because the legal permitting process was not followed (the public was not given an opportunity to comment).

Yet rather than remaining ”impartial,” our slimy Governor/coal industry lap dog grabbed some friendly tv reporters and headed over to the quarry (aka strip-mine) to lambaste the ruling and plead for its reversal.

Such hypocrisy was not lost on victims of mountaintop removal.

This is what one long-time activist had to say.

 They really do think that they are better than everyone else!!!!
I lived on 3 jobs when they trashed me and my family..
I didn’t see gov joe there doing anything for me.  Trying to take advantage of me and my family by asking me to “sign a waiver with the coal company releasing them from any future liability and he would have them come fix my place” this was in 04

When they have to make it on 400 a week they might get a good taste of what its like to have to live a normal life.
They are the type of people though that would starve out their kids before they would give up the V10 titon’s trucks and 2 4 wheelers.

Please visit www.coalriverwind.org and sign the petition to save Coal River Mountain.

Faces of Coal is another corporate sponsored pro-mountaintop removal group that likes to call itself “grassroots.”  Hopefully they won’t go as far as other astroturfers and forge letters to Congress.   But beware…

Thanks to Jamie Goodman with Appalachian Voices for uncovering this.

Exhibit A
http://www.facesofcoal.org/?page_id=18

Exhibit B
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-8934514-group-of-adult-students-standing-in-campus-corridor.php

Exhibit C
http://www.facesofcoal.org/?page_id=25

Exhibit D
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6947555-group-of-happy-business-people-standing-together-against-white-background.php

Exhibit E
http://www.facesofcoal.org (note the first image that comes up)

Exhibit F
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-8913075-woman-working-at-flower-shop.php
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6530020-traffic-through-los-angeles.php

Against the overwhelming evidence (including EPA studies) and down-right commonsense that mountaintop removal coal quarrying (formerly known as “mining”) had very harmful effects on ecosystems, the coal industry and its government could find shelter behind a scientific institution which said otherwise.  And though alone in the wilderness, this shelter seemed all the more sturdy since it was none other than the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the very agency whose members had as a primary duty to diligently guard against any intrusion which would harm the environment. As head of the DEP, Randy Huffman’s contestation that mountaintop removal was benign seemed like the voice of Zeno’s reason, assuring us that we have been manipulated by our senses, that the degradation we see is only a chimera, that the arrow really doesn’t move.

And when the United States Senate held a committee meeting to discuss mountaintop removal in June, there was Huffman to put things in perspective, lest the fine Congressmen be duped by the stories of people like Maria Gunnoe, who to Huffman only thinks the mountaintop removal operation behind her house killed everything in the once teeming stream that runs across her ancestral property. 

Though everything seemed to contradict the words of Huffman, it was inconceivable that he would be lying. After all, he was under oath and would not dare commit perjury; or worse for christians: lie on the bible. Even more important,  he was a scientist and thereby professionally obligated to present the facts, even if they were politically incorrect.

Or we thought until a package arrived at reporter Ken Ward’s office, mailed anonymous with no return address, within it an internal memo written by a respected biologist at the DEP, excoriating Huffman for contradicting the massive evidence his agency had compiled that clearly showed mountaintop removal was harmful!

Ken Ward immediately posted about it.  Ken uploaded the memo and linked it to his post. It is worth reading in its entirety.

While solid proof of Randy Huffman’s complicity in covering up environmental damage is sickening, this incident does give us hope that not all employees of the DEP have abandoned their integrity and committment to environmental protection. Where there is integrity, there is a chance that justice may come. But before it can, future heads of the DEP must not be picked by governors, most of whom have been slavish to out-of-state coal interests.

According to the AP,  “The Obama administration is mulling a proposal for a new jobs program with the aim of planting trees on Appalachian mountaintops that have been scalped by mining companies in search of coal.” The money would go to a group called the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative. On the surface, this seems like a great way to reclaim mountaintop removal sites and at the same time bring jobs to the region.

 My problem with the plan is this: federal money will be used to create a facade of a forest that mountaintop removal industries can point to and say “See, Reclamation is Possible!”

Let’s break this down. First of all, if anyone should be paying to fix this mess, it should be the  mountaintop removal industry who made it and not a government which is already cutting public funds in the name of “debt.” Secondly, the ARRI can only create a facade of a forest. Only a handful of species will be planted, and these with an eye towards eventual profitibility and not ecosystem restoration. See my post Wildlife In Appalachia for a description of this area’s ecology, the conditions that produce it, and a comprehensive list of the species destroyed by mountaintop removal.  

Of most concern to me is the effect a facade of a forest will have on coal industry propaganda efforts.  Currently, reclaimed mine sites are a public relations liability. Not wanting to foot the bill to grow trees, the industry is content with berating us on the beauty of lespidesia fields in the hopes that eventually we will believe it.  In sum, this plan will amount to a federal subsidy to the PR wing of the coal industry and justify MORE mountaintop removal.

While there are merits to growing trees on mtr sites, not the least of which is a probable reduction in flooding, this must not be done until mountaintop removal is BANNED. And then the funds should come out of Don Blankenship’s bulging pockets.

What follows are more concerns about this project. These from someone “in the know” :

1) That they haven’t convinced me that they are promoting ecology over economy, meaning that they’re not really looking at reforestation through the lens of attempting to restore the natural habitat, but more through the lens of planting economically profitable species.  When I challenged Patrick on a statement he made about ‘economic use,’ he quickly switched back to his guise of seeing himself as a “buddah planting trees,” and said his main concern was the ecology.

2) That ARRI might be used as a greenwashing tool.  Trust me, Van and the CEQ are not fooled by this.  They understand the extent of land/forest impacts from MTR, and I’ve provided a comment to them about how little of the affected area would be reforested through the current ARRI funding proposal (something like 1% or so, can’t remember exactly).

3) That the public is being asked to foot the bill.  Basically, ARRI is pursuing funding for their program through private foundations and the federal government.  This is problematic.  The funding should come from an additional tax on coal beyond the current special reclamation tax.  It should not come from public sources or private foundations who could use their money to benefit the work of non-profits rather than of the Office of Surface Mining.  The OSM itself should be held partially accountable for failing to uphold the law regarding reclamation, and should require the state’s to get more money from the coal companies in order to pay for reforestation efforts.

4) That it wont work.  Patrick Angel and the ARRI associated researchers are claiming that there is a high survivability rate for the trees they plant.  They base their claims on sites that were planted 5-10 years ago.  Not nearly enough time for knowing whether or not the trees will survive, and there is hardly an accounting of whether the trees that do survive are native trees or not.  An olive tree that grows in harsh conditions anyway does not count as a successful reforestation effort.  Getting a hemlock to survive, or a maple, or a sycamore, or actually, all three together, now that might convince me.  However, for the lands already impacted, we do have to try, but the public shouldn’t have to pay for it.

5) That Patrick seems to think, or at least purports, that sandstone and shale fragments and dust that results from the blasting of bedrock counts as soil.  He uses the term “weathered sandstone” in order to describe pulverized sandstone, and puts that out as a replacement for soil.  So overall, a dishonest description of the process and its potential for success calls for serious concern, especially since Patrick is asking the CEQ to provide support for the program.

6) They are hailing this as green jobs.  Which isn’t a bad thing, as long as new surface mining is prevented.  Also, they appear to plan on using alot of volunteers, though they are claiming to be asking for money in order to hire local workers.  So I’m not positive exactly which way that will go.  I do know that Patrick basically came up with a weak answer on the spot when I asked him how the jobs would be ensured to be year-round jobs.  He said, “4 months gathering seed, 4 months planting, and 4 months in a nursery.”  Now, first of all, as I said, he came up with that on the spot.  Second of all, that does not show that each job created through planting would also exist in the gathering and nursery phases.  Third of all, there is only one known nursery in the state (according to Patrick, I haven’t checked on that).  That does offer hope for the creation of new nurseries, and if the program was planned right, the jobs could be permanent.  However, the permanence would initially rely on a permanent source of funding from the federal government, and then on the creation of private businesses that would hire and retain the workers.  HOWEVER, private businesses are going to be inclined to grow commercially profitable species, rather than ecologically necessary and native species.

So, overall, the program is on the surface needed, but there are serious issues with it as it exists.  What needs to happen is that there needs to be a permanent fund set up that is paid for by the coal companies, and put to appropriate use.

Earl Ray Tomblin is the President of West Virginia’s State Senate and he wants to be governor.  Tellingly, for 35 years he has  represented Logan County, arguably the most corrupt county in the nation.  Logan’s failing sunshine review grade and the latest vote buying scandal only scratch the surface. 

More damaging to the integrity of Logan is the vast power held by the mountaintop removal industry, which owns most of the county’s land and all of  its public officials: including Tomblin.  Just last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship gave $300,000 in “philanthropy” to Logan in appreciation of  the politicians who do his bidding.  

As to be expected in an area where Massey Energy holds sway, Logan County is an environmental wasteland. Mountaintop removal has permanently destroyed a vast acreage of temperate rainforest. Acid mine drainage chokes every stream.

And where there is environmental degradation there is harm to people. Click here for an example of a direct link. Buffalo Creek would be another example. So would the disastrous floods just in the last decade.  Then there is the more subtle damage. When I lived in Logan County, I knew five children who had to have their gall bladders removed. Cancer rates are ridiculously high.

Also to be expected where a low-wage, non-union, industry predominates is extreme poverty and a drug culture. The poverty in Logan is almost reminiscent of  the “third world.”  The family that lived across from me had to use the oven of their electric range stove as a heater. And that was before they were evicted.  Scores have little choice but to steal in order to survive. Others enter the dangerous world of drug dealing, where they find a large consumer base begging to escape the reality mountaintop removal advocates have created.

Thus the need for large jails, like the one recently built on a mountaintop removal site which is now the “Earl Ray Tomblin Industrial Park.”  The only “industry” at the “park,” the jail is reached via the “Earl Ray Tomblin Road.”

Earl Ray is already a destructive force in West Virginia. If he becomes governor, which he has assured mountaintop removal opponents he will, it is doubtful that the “Mountain” state will ever recover.

As one coalfield resident remarked: “It is going from bad to worse.”

Today, another strip-miner died when the excavator he was operating rolled into a pond.   Doubtless Patriot Coal is more concerned about losing the excavator.

This marks the 9th surface mine fatality of 2009 in the United States. There have been two deep mine deaths this year.

One of the most commonly deployed arguments for mountaintop removal is that it is safer for the miners. This line of reasoning completely ignores the fact that mountaintop removal is MUCH more dangerous to the people who live around the operation. But notwithstanding this huge gap, the argument is still wrong.

Since 2006, there have been 15 surface mine fatalities in West Virginia compared to only 8 deep mine deaths, despite the fact that there are twice as many deep miners as mountaintop removal workers!

I have exhausted myself explaining how strip-mining is harmful to those who aren’t getting paid to do it, i.e. the surrounding residents.  Here I will point out a few reasons while mountaintop removal is dangerous to the strip-miners themselves.

Most laborers on a strip-mine spend 60 hours a week loading a truck full of debris, driving it to a valley, and dumping it in the valley. Wince and repeat.  Needless to say, this work is extremely monotonous.  After months of the same routine, the truckers who only make about 8 dollars an hour naturally get a little burnt out.  And since these trucks with 20 foot high tires weigh ten times more than your average 18 wheeler, bad things can happen when their drivers become careless.

One of the most common ways to die on a strip-mine is to be run over by one of these trucks. Another common fatality involves a trucker rolling over the edge of a valley fill while dumping his load.  Or in this case, an excavator operator rolled into a pond. There have been other cases of people dying in fires or falling off of huge excavators.

The natural hazards of operating HEAVY HEAVY machinery are bad enough. Things get much worse when the low paid and overworked operators try to beat the monotony. An informant once told me that every other trucker did pills. I personally know of one mtr worker who trades his wife’s xanax for ridilin.

To make matters even worse, another informant once told me that a lot of the equipment used at these sites is out-dated or mechanically flawed. A couple days before the “unannounced” inspections, the bad machines are put to pasture.

There is no justification for mountaintop removal. It has to stop. We have to stop it.

You can read more about the accident and probably receive updates at Ken Ward’s blog: http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/07/28/worker-killed-at-samples-mountaintop-removal-mine/#more-1017

The social harm caused by coal is enormous.

Of course there is the obvious horror of mountaintop removal. I once led a discussion with coalfield residents in which we brainstormed about 100 of its horrible effects, ranging from the disappearance of wildlife to the boulders that were crashing in nearby homes.

But the social and environmental consequences of coal are disastrous even before the extraction process can begin. First comes the “enclosure” of lands customarily held in common: lands that provided the timber, food, water, herbs, and even coal which people with meager incomes needed for even modest independence. At the same time, people with moderate land holdings are defrauded or physically forced from their lands. In the early days, the need to build railroads, coal camps, and underground struts led to the clearcutting of every inch of forest, which of course caused erosion and destroyed streams. This further undermined the possibility to use the woods and streams as a supplement to subsistence and small market lifestyles. The same effect is caused by mountaintop removal today.

When a monolithic economy establishes itself, whether it be sugar, cotton, or coal, any chance for healthy development is obviated by the oppression of colonialism. ANYWHERE you find a monolithic economy in the world, you find poverty, boom and bust, corrupt politicians, and environmental devestation.

Then there is the burning of coal. This causes acid rain, asthma, and probably global warmining. For those that live closer to the coal plants, the effects are substantially worse. There is heavy metal poisoning, high rates of autism, and even lower IQs. Then there is the storage of coal waste. In the coalfields this means gigantic impoundments of toxic sludge that loom over elementary schools. For those living near the plants, this means coal ash ponds like the one that broke in Tennessee last December.

 Of course, politicians will not stop the use of coal unless they are forced to do so…

To celebrate the DVD reissue of the 1986 film The Mine War on Blackberry Creek, Appalshop is streaming the documentary in its entirety (28 minutes) on the web for free.  In 1984, Massey began a push to break the union along the West Virginia and Kentucky border. But union miners refused to give away their high wages, pensions, benefits, and independence without a struggle.  Compelled by the blood their ancestors spilled to give them their rights, and in solidarity with South Africans working in slave conditions in Massey mines across the globe, union miners struggled intensely for two and a half years against company goons, amoral scabs, and a state police force which might as well have been on king coal’s payroll.

We all know the unfortunate ending to this story. As Walmart’s anti-union campaign had a snowball effect in the grocery/retail industry,  Massey’s union busting forced other company’s to break their unions to stay competitive.  When the union was thriving, this area of WV was modestly prosperous. But thanks to Massey, the money that stayed in the form of high wages and pensions was slurped out of the area and into the pockets of New York stockholders. For his part in the union busting, Don Blankenship was eventually rewarded with the position of CEO and now rakes in about $1,000 an hour.  Meanwhile, Massey continues to ruin Southern West Virginia for its own extra-profit. As it led the way in union busting, it now leads the way in mountaintop removal…

Here is what Bob Kincaid, a native from West Virginia coal country, had to say about this film:

This film cries out for a “Where Are They Now” follow-up.
 
I’ll warrant none of us would be surprised at the results.
 
The UMWA is a broken, subservient, pathetic shadow of what it once was, and I weep for my forebears who bled to make it.  With every breath he breathes, Cecil Roberts shames my ancestors who paid for his limousine and his well-dressed wife.  For my part, I wouldn’t pee in Cecil Roberts’ mouth if his guts were a blazing inferno.  The mere sight of the man fills me with generational revulsion.  I can’t see the man but I imagine him wearing big, floppy clown shoes.
 
The answers are not easily come by, but the result is easily seen.  The UMWA has welcomed Mountain Removers into its ranks and shamed the very blood upon which it was founded.  If there is a god, may It strike dead the “UMWA member” mountain remover who sets foot on the hallowed ground of Paint Creek, of Matewan, of Blair Mountain, anywhere Mary Harris Jones ever stood, and all the myriad places where brave men struggled that chickenshit UMWA mountain removers might live.
 
Yesterday, the United States Senate hocked up a big loogy and spat it square in his face with its abandonment of the card-check portion of the Employee Free Choice Act.  I happen to have been present on the 21st of January, 2009, in the Russell Senate Office Building when Harry Reid promised a roomful of “Progressive Media” a “card-check” bill “by summer.”  I asked the question and he made the promise looking me in the eye.  HE.LIED.  Soak that in: Harry Reid told a straight-up LIE.  The EFCA has been gutted by the Senate of the United States of America.  The Democratic Party has learned to use organized labor to get elected in the same fashion that the Republican Party has been using its shock troops from the anti-Abortion Industry for years.  Welcome to the House of Mirrors.
 
I don’t often essay to this list, so I hope you will forgive this one.  As I sit here, I remember a UMWA grandfather who died of Black Lung before his time, cherish the stories of a UMWA great-grandfather I never met but will know immediately in Heaven, yearn for a UMWA father who’s gone on and left me only his integrity and dedication, and I’m MAD.

Thanks to the efforts of the mountaintop removal industry and the politicians who do their bidding, the site of the nation’s largest worker rebellion will be delisted from the National Historic Registry.

Leading the way in the effort to delist was the WV Division of Culture and History. One would think such a department would like to promote and develop the site of WV’s most significant historical event.

The primary reason for the delisting is that the coal industry wants to finish demolishing Blair Mountain, and it will be harder for the WV Department of Environmental Protection to justify granting strip-mining permits for a cite listed on the National Register.

But another important consideration is the threat that a listed Blair Mountain might bring tourists. And this is a part of the state that needs to be kept hidden. Mountaintop removal mining has not only destroyed half of Blair Mountain (which is more than a tad embarassing), it has depopulated the surrounding towns. It is hard to argue the merits of mtr against the backdrop of so much poverty and environmental degredation.

In 1998, the few remaining residents of Blair petitioned the EPA to stop the destruction. Surprisingly, the EPA came to investigate and even held a public hearing. But the coal goons were out in full force, and the cries from Blair were drowned out. The destruction continued and the detractors were forced to sell their property to the company because its market value had plummetted to zero. They could no longer take the threats of violence. Or the silica dust, cracked wells, and blasts that kept them on edge.

The removal of Blair Mountain from the list and from the earth is symbolic as much as it is “economic.” History of resistance to the evils of King Coal should be razed with everything else.

Despite public outcry, the WV Parkways Authority, with the support of Governor Manchin, exacted a 60% toll increase on the West Virginia turnpike: a highway that runs through some of the poorest regions in the state. Thus, the same people who are struggling the most in this recession will feel the brunt of the increase. Tax the poor because they can’t afford to fight back.

There are three toll booths on the turnpike. On this post, I will give you directions to get around all of them.  Skipping some of the booths is surprisingly easy, while avoiding others can be a little troublesome.  If you know of an easier way, please comment.

Heading North

Ghent Tollbooth

If you plan on taking I-64 East (towards Virgina) at Beckley, skipping this toll is almost like a shortcut. It will certainly save miles, if not time.

1. Take Exit 28

2. Turn Right onto Odd Road, travel .2 miles to intersection.

3. Turn Left onto Route 19, travel about 11 miles to town of Beaver.

4. At the stoplight, turn right onto Airport Road (there will be signs for McDonalds and Interstate 64), travel a couple miles until you run into the interstate.

Time lost: 0 to 5 minutes, depending on traffic.

Comments: Scenic ride. For an even more scenic twist, on Route 19, take route 307 (just past Glade Springs) instead of driving all the way to Beaver. This road will also take you to interstate 64, and may be a tad quicker than Airport road.

If you are staying on I-77 North, skipping this toll may be bit inconvenient.

1. Take Exit 28

2. Turn Right onto Odd Rd, travel .2 miles to intersection.

3. Turn Left onto Route 19, continue about 15 miles into the city of Beckley to the intersection with South Kanawha Street.

4. Travel Several blocks to the intersection with West Prince Street, which is a one way road.

5. Turn Left on West Prince Street and travel a couple blocks to the intersection with Robert C. Byrd Drive. If you miss West Prince Street, don’t panic, just continue on South Kanawha (now called North Kanawha) until the intersection with Robert C. Byrd Drive.

6. Turn Left on Robert C. Byrd Drive. In a couple miles you will run into Interstate 64W/77N.

Time lost: 15-25 minutes.

Comments: If you are in a major hurry, just pay the 2 bucks.

Pax Tollbooth

There are two ways to avoid this toll. The shortest option involves taking a narrow road that is now paved.

Shortest Way

1. Take Exit 54

2.  Turn right, then turn Left at the intersection.

3.  Continue on this road (which becomes very narrow) for a few miles. Bear left at the Plum Orchard Lake signs.

4. Continue a few miles until you come to a stop sign. At the stop sign turn right and you will see signs for the interstate.

Time Lost: 7-12 minutes

Longer Way

1. Take Exit 48 (you will have to pay a .40 cent toll to exit; the toll was .25 cents before the increase)

2. Take Route 19 for approximately 10 miles to Delta Rd. 153 at Whipple. There is a sign for Mossy on Route 19 that directs you to this road. Follow interstate signs, or signs to Mossy to navigate the towns after exiting from Route 19.

3. The road will soon straighten out. Follow it 12 miles until you run into the interstate.

Time lost: 20-30 minutes.

Cheylen Tollbooth

This is an easy one.

1. Take Exit 79 at Sharon.

2. Turn Left, then Right at the intersection

3. Continue for about 5 miles until the T intersection with Route 61 (at the underpass).

4. Turn Left, travel about a mile and hop on the interstate.

Time Lost: 5-7 minutes

Comments: Watch out for overweight, deadly coal trucks.

Heading South

Basically, just follow the above directions in reverse. The only thing that changes are the exits.

Cheylen Plaza exit: 85

Pax exit: 60

Ghent exits:

Coming from W 64–125 to Beaver

Coming from S 77–42 Robert C Byrd Drive