Mountain Momma

If I were to ask how you would feel about living and working in a place with the following description, how would you react? “[It is a land of coal mining through mountain top removal,] a radical form of strip mining that has left over 2,000 miles of streams buried and over 500 mountains destroyed. According to several recent studies, people living near surface mining sites have a 50 percent greater risk of fatal cancer and a 42 percent greater risk of birth defects than the general population.” Jason Howard writing in the July 8^th New York Times. Yep, it’s in the United States. Nope, the feds and the Environmental Protection Agency are pushing to reign in the environmental damage and the increased risk to those living in the area of abundant coal mines.

But in this land, particularly among those most exposed to the health risks, the miners and their families living in the immediate vicinity of these radical mines, there are very, very strong sentiments against environmental regulation. A large billboard looms over Interstate 77 just outside of Charleston, West Virginia screams: “Obama’s No Jobs Zone.” It’s about economic survival, and the local mining companies have convinced the locals that if such environmental rules continue to be enforced, the jobless malaise that has settled over many in America will define West Virginia’s future for some time to come… and a few of the other Appalachian states where coal mining is the driving industry.

But is this mountain top removal the coal industry’s promised massive job-creating machine or are such environmentally destructive efforts simply a way for the mining companies to bring the coal to the surface where labor-saving mechanized mining can harvest the coal with a fraction of the workers necessary to operate a sub-surface mine? Are they just buying political support with false promises of lots of new jobs? “Of course, since mountaintop removal is heavily mechanized, the coal industry is the real job killer — and, until recently, miners would have been suspicious of any claim to the contrary. For decades the companies had fought the miners’ efforts to unionize, resulting in violent strikes.

“After finally recognizing the union, King Coal opposed its demands for things like a living wage, health insurance, safety precautions and measures to curb the alarming rates of black lung disease. The strategy was simple: the companies would buy off individual communities and leaders, exchanging meager payouts for silence or even support against the more adamant activists.

“The presence of the United Mine Workers of America helped stymie such tactics. But now, with a mere 25 percent of miners belonging to the union, the allegiance of miners has largely shifted to the coal companies. The old divide-and-conquer strategy is back. This time, it’s a matter of pitting workers against their erstwhile allies in Washington: increased environmental regulations — a hallmark of the Obama Environmental Protection Agency following eight years of lax guidelines and enforcement under President George W. Bush — are branded as a war on coal miners… At the same time, dissent against King Coal is increasingly greeted with open hostility and harassment.” NY Times.

The SuperPACs and the power of King Coal have drowned out any meaningful opposition to their “kill environmental regulation” mantra. Just think, if the companies get their way, they will be able to underpay those lucky enough to get the few incremental jobs that highly mechanized surface mining will produce, they will not be encumbered by the costly life-and-environment-saving measures for which the EPA was created in the first place and they will be able to rake in the profits without the slightest responsibility for the damage they will have done, to the land that will linger for centuries after the coal has long-since been exhausted and the death and disease that will reside in the bodies of those who work the slopes or live in the area. If you publicize a falsehood long enough, it often develops the ring of truth, and if those living in denial in the hopes of a better life need to believe the lies, the invasion of truth itself has little or no hope of taking root.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it is increasingly the one with the loudest and most persistent voice that enjoys the victory with truth and justice all too often relegated to the loser’s bench.