Waging War in Appalachia

[spklbuk]

My previous videos and ride reports have tried to portray West Virginia’s finer side, but there is another much darker face to our state and region. The war being waged in the Appalachian Mountains and the external costs of cheap electricity from coal connects all citizens of the United States and the globe as surely as do the world’s military conflicts. This is my feeble attempt to call this war to your attention.

[soapbox]

Riding just below the Appalachian mist, everything looks hunky-dory from the interstate.

Coal then:

 

[spklbuk]

Coal now:

Bramwell, WV Visitor’s Center and Coal Heritage Museum in a sleepy little town making do now mostly on tourism:

]

 

[spklbuk]

Just around the corner:

On top of the mountain:

 

[spklbuk]

Just over the other side of the ridge:

“Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore”

James McMurtry, Can’t Make It Here Anymore

 

[spklbuk]

These scenes repeat themselves throughout the Appalachian coalfields.

What it the results of this unsustainable land use? Permanent loss of one of the world’s oldest and most diverse ecosystems and the inestimable and largely unknown ecosystem services it provides and permanent impoverishment of its people.

 

[spklbuk]

Perhaps top coal producing nations like China, U.S.A., India and Australia along with the rest of the planet may have some rethinking to do. So next time you flip the light switch, please stop and ask yourself, what lies at the end of the rainbow?

[/soapbox]



For a professional take on the issues surrounding mountain top removal mining…
Burning The Future: Coal in America - PREVIEW
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09072007/watch3.html

 

[mbabc]

I just this past weekend took a ride though this area. I have to say coming from the south out of Virginia into West Virigina on #16 I was actually surprised at some of the small towns (War, Squire, Raysal) I rode through in WV. I've spent many miles in eastern KY and TN but this part of south west WV was pretty depressed in comparison. Much more so than even a little futher north in the state I've ridden through on past rides. Don't know why but once I rode back into VA and on in to KY at Elkhorn City things looked much better and I was on some pretty remote back roads too.

I won't get into the debate on mountain top removal, but coal is the major economic mover in this part of the country. I saw signs in yards, bumper stickers, bill boards warning against the 'war on coal'. I'm sure the real answer is somewhere in the middle like most things.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Admittedly I am ignorant to the controversy. I will say I ride 2 to 4 weekends every month in WV. I love it there. I do see some disturbing things, but they are far outweighed by the natural beauty and good people of the state. I do wish WV well.

 

[jajpko]

Thanks for sharing this with us. I was born on a farm in the mountains of Maryland and raised a good part of my life there. I remember trips to WV and other surrounding states. I remember how I thought we were poor, until I saw what poor really was.

I have also seen what mining has done to CO and do not believe this is necessary for the country or the majority of the people.

There have been many documentary movies made on this. What I really don't understand(and probably never will), is why our country can rebuild so many nations, but leave it's own people to live like this.

::009::

 

[spklbuk]

Don't get me wrong mbabc; I have nothing against coal per se or coal miners. I have family and friends who are miners and I have the utmost respect for them and what they do. Years ago, coal used to buy my grub when I worked for an environmental consulting firm that focused on preparing mine permits.

My problem is with the absentee parent corporations, executives and investors who have never lived here and never will. Based on what I've seen with my own eyes since the late 1970s, their only interest is to get the coal out in the cheapest and quickest way possible...a way that sacrifices the mountain people and ecosystem in an irreversible way...calling it "good business" and selling that propaganda to their employees.

BTW, southern WV coalfields doesn't have the corner on poverty. Economic depression is rampant throughout the mountain top removal mining areas. Among the richest in natural resources, but the residents are amongst the nation's poorest. What's wrong with that picture?
http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/29/2047698/ky-voices-poverty-growing-in-state.html

::009:: I posmise I'm done this time . ::009::

 

[spklbuk]

Admittedly I am ignorant to the controversy. I will say I ride 2 to 4 weekends every month in WV. I love it there. I do see some disturbing things, but they are far outweighed by the natural beauty and good people of the state. I do wish WV well.

Come a little farther south than your usual haunts sometime and let me show you around.

 

[spklbuk]

Thanks for sharing this with us. I was born on a farm in the mountains of Maryland and raised a good part of my life there. I remember trips to WV and other surrounding states. I remember how I thought we were poor, until I saw what poor really was.

I have also seen what mining has done to CO and do not believe this is necessary for the country or the majority of the people.

There have been many documentary movies made on this. What I really don't understand(and probably never will), is why our country can rebuild so many nations, but leave it's own people to live like this.

::009::

::008:: Puzzles the hell out of me too japako.

 

[GrahamD]

Been following this for years.

Nothing will change.

That's the way the system works.

We are having the same discussions over here.

My take is that eventually, we will hHAVE to do with less, but while there is still stuff to be dug up, no one has to think about that, so they generally don't.

Just easier to label someone who opposes it and run a smear campaign really. Esier then doing what's right in the long term I suppose.

 

[spklbuk]

Been following this for years.

Nothing will change.

That's the way the system works.

We are having the same discussions over here.

My take is that eventually, we will hHAVE to do with less, but while there is still stuff to be dug up, no one has to think about that, so they generally don't.

Just easier to label someone who opposes it and run a smear campaign really. Esier then doing what's right in the long term I suppose.

Graham, it was your post about Japan rethinking nuclear that propagated this ride/rant. Well that and the "Burning the Future, Coal in America" airing on public broadcast last night that set me off.
Why the same hell can't we (and I'm as guilty as anyone) rethink our energy future too?

 

[GrahamD]

Graham, it was your post about Japan rethinking nuclear that propagated this ride/rant. Well that and the "Burning the Future, Coal in America" airing on public broadcast last night that set me off.
Why the same hell can't we (and I'm as guilty as anyone) rethink our energy future too?

It's in our collective culture over in the west, and since it has served us so well in the past, before we started making a big dent that is, we just think it will work well into the future. It's sort of thing that makes people wear suits and ties on hot days. It's what you do.

Japan on the other hand seems to have a bit of a culture of deciding what's good for me AND the company / country. I have seen may examples where they will do something ONLY if there is a tick in each box. So there is a bit of give and take there.

Sometimes I think that may be just a caricature but when things like the nuke thing happen and it just reminds me how different cultures deal with things. There was no fanfare, no press releases, they just did it.

Now to try and bend thins back to motorbikes go and read "ZEN and the art of motorcycle maintenance" (if you haven't already) It's available free online.

Not only was that whole book about the the musing of a man thinking about Quality but he was writing it on a road trip riding a 305cc bike two up with gear.

I often think about that when I am sitting on my 1200cc bike alone wondering why I have to have a 1200cc bike, but a 1200cc bike with ENOUGH power (for a 1200cc bike).

I think the collective population if the world has yelled out "Super Size Me". On the other hand YAMAHA has delivered a bike that gets way better fuel economy than could be achived in even a modest car (except those hippy diesel European lefty things ) so I don't feel too bad.

I suppose it's the difference between people demanding Quality of life and those demanding Quantity of life. I would much prefer less crap that lasts than more crap that doesn't but reading around a few places I think we have all been convinced that we must just have more stuff to be happy.

So hats off to people like WASP and TABASCO and woody's wheels and you spklbuk. Yes they have to make money, but there is obviously more to it than that.

Anyway, this deep stuff always gets me in the poo so I better go 8)

 

[dcstrom]

Thanks for posting this spklbuk - I ask myself the same questions when riding through those areas. How can a region so rich in resources be so dirt poor? I think I know some of the answers and wonder why the people themselves don't know them? But I realize too that so many of them are dependent on the coal economy to survive, that they can't afford to rock the boat, or perhaps have been convinced by the propaganda from Big Coal that this is the way things have to be?

I've often wanted to stop and talk to locals and find out how they really feel about the situation, but a lot of these communities are fairly closed to outsiders so it's hard - not only am I not local, but not even American... Being an Aussie has some novelty value (but a lot of people can't tell I'm an Aussie - the old timers in the diners will hear the strange accent and sometimes say to me "what state you from boy?") but it doesn't help with getting people talking about the issues in the community. I think they tend to cover it up even more actually.

So spklbuk - maybe I'll take you up on that offer of a tour some time. You obliviously know a lot about the life and the places down there, and I'm keen to learn...

Trevor

 

[spklbuk]

Graham, I think you're right (on many levels); time for a beer. ::021::
But what did I do to be in with that esteemed group? ::025::



Tour is always open Trevor. Yep, very close knit communities. I've lived here all my life and still often feel like I'm an outsider in my own hometown because I have a formal education where most do not. "Just a damn college kid, I don't trust him" kinda thing. Took 3 years before I felt accepted at the local independent motorcyle shop 3 miles from home. Now that they know I'm just a dipstick, they think I'm OK!

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I'm nearly always an outsider in WV, but there was a time and place where I was an insider. The sheriff of Boone County rents out some cabins along the Hatfield McCoy trails. We rented from him for a few years in a row, sometime more than once a season and we got to know the sheriff. He is a great guy and when he likes you it opens up the world more than I could have achieved on my own. We were invited to private homes for cookouts with local residence and I learned stuff from the sheriff that I never could have expected. Let me tell you, when the sheriff calls ahead for you at the local dealership to let them know you're coming with a mechanical issue it's amazing how well you're treated.

On those trips we also head up towards Charleston where a friend's dad owned a bar. Knock on certain door and it was where the owner hung out with several friends. Let's just say that was also an insider opportunity where I met interesting people who were both friendly and a little scary all at the same time.

Those were fun opportunities for me, but that was a few years ago and probably no longer available to me. Overall I usually find the people of WV to be friendly and looking for an opportunity to be helpful. There certainly are unpleasant types there as well, but I find them to be in the minority.

 

[Scoop47501]

The truth of the matter is over 50% of our electricity comes from coal. There is no other fuel to replace it at that volume.
Remember one thing. When the economy was going strong the electrical grids were overwhelmed and we had black outs. Once this economy comes back you can expect the same but worse as the current administration is very hard on all fossil fuels and mines are shutting down right now and they have no substitute source.
As for the big companies being blind, well I know first hand that state and federal agencies have total control with regulations that are heavily enforced and monitored over all environmental and reclamation taking place at the mines.
I am happy to supply your power needs as a 20 year coal miner so you can express your thoughts that I may disagree with.
Scooper

 

[spklbuk]

Scooper, my rant is NOT against coal, but rather mountain top removal mining. Maximum production at minimum cost to the company. But what is the cost to society, particularly coalfield society, as a whole? Collateral damage?

I get it. I have lived where coal is mined all my life and used to work in an industry supporting mining. Nearly 100% of WVs electricity comes from coal. But systematically leveling WV with valley fills so that it matches the rolling hills of Indiana is a crime.