[Dialogue] Emailing: Coalminers' Slaughter In US, They Blow Up Mountains For Coal - CommonDreams.org.htm

Thu Jun 19 16:08:40 EDT 2008

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Published on Thursday, June 19, 2008 by Agence France Presse
<http://www.afp.com/english/home/>  

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.
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/0619_03_1.jpg> 0619
03 1

"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.

C 2008 Agence France Presse

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1 Comment so far 

1.	

	Brian Brademeyer June 19th, 2008 12:50 pm 

	The flattened mountaintops will finally provide a suitable location
for WalMart superstores and parking lots in the rugged "Mountain State".

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