csethna.com

Kayford Mountain

On Saturday, July 18, 2009 I traveled to Kayford Mountain in West Virginia.

View Larger Map

I have been working on stopping mountaintop removal since I started working with Ohio Citizen Action in June. However, I have been aware of the issue and its urgency since the summer of 2008. Before the trip I was certain I knew what this was all about.

No amount of reading or hearing about the issue could have prepared me for the scene that I witnessed on Kayford Mountain last Saturday.

Larry Gibson, the voice of Appalachia, and the head of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation lives on Kayford Mountain.

His property has been in his family since immediately after the Civil War. Larry Gibson’s family used to own and use the entire mountain to sustain a town of about 60 people. This pristine and undamaged wilderness allows the people of Appalachia to self-sustain and live, not off the land, but “on the land,” as Gibson says.

Larry Gibson then told us how the coal mining industry, upon the death of his great-great-grandfather, went to the office in which deeds for property were filed and “reevaluated” the land that was originally and rightfully theirs. They were able to do this because Gibson’s ancestor didn’t sign his name, it was only a series of “X”s, and nobody was able to dispute the claim of the mining company.

Gibson stated time and time again that the law in West Virginia backs he who has the largest wallet.

Larry Gibson then took us to the edge of his newly redefined property, to what he calls the “gates of hell.” On Gibson’s side of the gate, life is sustainable. Things live. The smell of some home-cooked food constantly lingering in the air. And dense, green foliage is commonplace.

When we reached these posts Gibson told us not to come any farther if we didn’t like beans for beans are what they feed people in jail in West Virginia. The posts mark the beginning on mining company property as indicated by this prominently placed sign:

Larry Gibson then showed us the large holes that are drilled into the rock and packed with explosives.

He told us that the miners use whatever is cheaply provided to them to blast. They’ve even been known to have been supplied with illegal chemicals that have injured them severely when blasting and the company has been forced to disclose their usage of such chemicals to the hospital for treatment purposes.

The devastation that I witnessed was completely mind blowing. As good a grasp I thought I had on the issue, I was completely and utterly flabbergasted by the scene which had been laid out before me.

The mere three inches of topsoil on the mountains take 1,000 years per inch to form. These three inches purvey sustainability to all who live there.

In addition to making the mountain inhospitable to life, about half of the coal that could be extracted from the mountain is blown into the valley below.

I went on to learn that the perception that West Virginia depends on coal jobs was completely skewed. Only 2% of the employed in West Virginia are coal miners. Wal-Mart, in all its glory, is the largest employer in the state.

West Virginia generates enough hydroelectric power to fulfill its energy needs. It does not need coal. Gibson simply says that the “machine wants us to deppend on sole energy sources.” Those that aren’t renewable create an endless stream of demand and inflated profits so the industry fat cats may pad their deep pockets. Coal is NOT about jobs.

Gibson describes his people and those of Appalachia as the “forgotten people of Appalachia.” They are caught in a perpetual cycle of poverty, fighting to live. When Gibson talks of ending mountaintop removal and by extension coal mining itself, he has been met with hostility and violent opposition. The people of Appalachia need jobs. When someone talks of eliminating the job they have, they become angry. They need to see that coal imprisons them within the cycle of poverty. Gibson says that their talents could be put to work on a reclamation effort. And he says that no reclamation will take place until the mining industry learns how to pass the cost on to the taxpayers. So, regardless of where we live, we shall be paying to fix the devastation left in the wake of the coal industry.

Action needs to be taken. Mountaintop removal needs to be stopped. For the sake of the people of Appalachia, long exploited, for the sake of the landscape, pristine and historical; the second-most biodiverse region in the world, the lands of Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett. And for the health of those whose water is being polluted by this practice.