“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1)“Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills, …
Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.”
(Psalm 148:7-9,13)
On Monday, June 23rd, I had the opportunity to visit the town of Appalachia, Virginia, a small town located in Wise County in the far southwestern corner of the state. My family and I (including my wife, two sons, father and mother) made the hour and a half trip north from Kingsport, Tennessee (my parents’ home town) for a very specific purpose. We joined fifty other ecologically- and environmentally-concerned individuals on a field trip through the Appalachian Mountains that surround this small town known for its coal mining industry. The purpose of the field trip was to see the environmental destruction caused by a controversial coal mining technique called “surface mining,” or more accurately and appropriately, “mountaintop removal.” Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Coal companies in Appalachia are increasingly using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of buried coal seams while reducing the number of workers needed to a fraction of what conventional methods require. I had seen many pictures of this destructive technique and had read quite a bit about it. But I was in no way prepared for what I actually saw with my own eyes on that afternoon.
The group of citizens that gathered in Appalachia that afternoon included scientists and environmentalists, teachers and lawyers, journalists and photographers, children and senior citizens, college students and professionals. Many were members of environmental activist groups and organizations such as the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), and the Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light (GWIPL). Some were like me … followers of Jesus Christ that love God’s creation and appreciate and understand our role as human beings to be good stewards of what He has made. Perhaps most important were the local residents of Appalachia and other mining towns in the region who live in the daily shadow cast by the coal mining industry. I met some of them in person and heard their stories about the ongoing devastation of the Appalachian Mountains due to mountaintop removal coal mining and its negative impacts on the people who live there.
Today’s blog will give you a sense of what I saw that day through words, pictures, and video. I will also share with you the full extent of the mountaintop removal efforts that are ongoing in the Wise County area as well as in the rest of the Appalaichans. In subsequent blogs, I hope to describe in more detail the mountaintop removal process, why this technique is used, and, most critically, its catastrophic impact on the environment and the health of the local populations. Some of the information included here has been taken from an excellent website: www.ilovemountains.org. I encourage you to visit this website if you desire to learn more about the mountaintop removal issue.
The following photographs were taken from roadside clearings along Route 160 which leaves Appalachia, heads west towards Kentucky, and scales Black Mountain. Its summit is actually the highest point in the state of Kentucky. At various clearings along the road the viewer can find unimpeded views of the widespread devastation caused by mountaintop clearing mining efforts in Wise County, VA.
The photograph to the left shows what remains of one mountain in Wise County. From personal observation, mountaintop removal is a brutal and relentless process. Before mining can begin, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed. Because coal companies frequently are responding to short-term fluctuations in the price of coal, these trees are often not even used comercially in the rush to get the coal, but instead are burned or sometimes illegally dumped into valley fills. Dynamite is then used progressively to tear away at the mountain to expose the hidden veins and seams of coal. Often between 500-800 feet of the mountain elevation are removed in the process. Coal and debris is then removed by a piece of machinery called a dragline. A dragline stands 22 stories high and can hold 24 compact cars in its bucket. These machines can cost up to $100 million, but are favored by coal companies because they displace the need for hundreds of jobs.
As we viewed the carnage from a clearing near the summit of Black Mountain, it seemed as if one mountaintop clearing site blended right into the next one (see photo at right). These sites went in every direction as far as one could see. Currently, 25% of Wise County has been destroyed by strip-mining and mountaintop removal. That 25% figure is not a typo!!! Every so often we heard the detonation of dynamite in the distance signaling the destruction of another layer of a beautiful mountain. Sometimes we were able to see in the distance plumes of dust and debris ejected from yet another dynamite blast.
As I stared into the valley below, I was reminded of the moonscapes as seen in the photography from the Apollo moon landings. Indeed, the mountaintop removal sites greatly resembled lunar landscapes. I never expected that I would see such landscapes on earth … especially in the Appalaichans!
As we stared dumfounded at the devastation, my father observed how little coal there seemed to be in the denuded and destroyed mountains. It was a true statement. The visible, dark seams of coal did seem to be scarce. Upon return home, I conducted some research that confirmed our observation. Only 8-10% of each mountain is usable coal. The rest of the mountain is discarded.
The waste from the mining operation, also known as overburden or spoil, is dumped into nearby valleys, burying streams. According to an EPA environmental impact statement, more than 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams were permitted to be buried as of 2001. Of course, this figure has been greatly surpassed in the years since. The photo to the right shows a small valley filled with the overburden from neighboring mountaintop removal sites.
The mined coal is washed and treated in local plants before it is loaded on trains. The cleaning plant pictured to the left is located on the outskirts of Appalachia.
The excess water left over from this process is called coal slurry or sludge and is stored in open coal impoundments. Coal sludge is a mix of water, coal dust, clay and toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, copper, and chromium. Impoundments are held in place by mining debris, making them very unstable.
Unfortunately, we were unable to see one of these slurry ponds during our visit to Wise (see stock photo at right for an actual sludge pond). Sludge dams represent the greatest threat to nearby communities of any of the impacts of coal mining. Impoundments are notoriously leaky, contaminating drinking water supplies in many communities, and are also known to fail completely. A sludge dam breach in Martin County, KY, in 2000, sent more than 300 million gallons of toxic coal sludge into tributaries of the Big Sandy, causing what the EPA called, “The biggest environmental disaster ever east of the Mississippi.”
Evidence of the coal industry is everywhere in Wise County. Tractor trailers hauling coal to the coal-fired power plants fill the roadways. We saw numerous trains, each consisting of hundreds of coal cars. Some were load to full capacity with coal. Others were empty and returning to pick up a new load. Above left is a photo of my sons Matthew and Samuel watching an empty coal train pass through Natural Tunnel, VA on its way to the coal fields of Wise County. Above right is a full coal train waiting to depart from the stock yards of Appalachia for coal-fired power plants located along the eastern seaboard of the United States.
As mentioned earlier, 25% of Wise County has been destroyed by strip-mining and mountaintop removal. Current permits and USGS estimates show that even more mountains (up to a third of the County!) will be leveled as long as mountaintop removal is legal. I have found a video on youtube.com that reveals the existing devastation of Wise County through mountaintop removal using a computerized “virtual flyover” simulation.
The map below depicts the existing strip-mine lands in southwestern Virginia as well as land that has been released for future mining activity (”New Permits”). Wise County is the county covered with red. Black Mountain is in the westernmost portion of the county right on the border of Kentucky.
God loves His creation. He delights in it, and He has called those who are made in His image to be His stewards of the world He has made. As I gazed over the wide expanses of barren rubble that had once been the mountains and valleys of Appalachia, and as I pondered the clogged streams, the flattened forests, the leaking toxins from sludge ponds, the interrupted bird migration routes, and the threatened ecosystems, I could not help but think of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The earth is defiled by its people” (24:5). I also thought of the oppressed people of Appalachia whose water is polluted by mercury, arsenic, and chromium that leaks from the sludge ponds, whose foundations and wells are cracked and ruptured by dynamite blasts, and whose hunting forests and fishing ponds disappear at an alarming rate. And I couldn’t help but think about 3-year old Jeremy Davidson, a young boy of Appalachia, who was killed in 2005 by a half-ton boulder that became dislodged by a bulldozer working the mountaintop removal mine on Black Mountain. The boulder crashed through his home and crushed him while he slept. I saw what was left of his family’s home. The rest of the family moved away, the reminders of the tragedy too great to bear. I am learning more and more that the common people, especially the poor, have little or no voice at all when it comes to confronting big government, big money, and big business. Dominion Virginia Power, the big coal companies, and the politicians in the Commonwealth of Virginia are not so much about the people of Virginia, but about themselves and satisfying their greed and political aspirations.
But that said, I spent the most time thinking about myself and my own personal role in this tragedy. How can I change my life to make some difference in the struggle to preserve the beautiful Appalachians? How can I stand in solidarity with the common people of Appalachia who have little voice and little power to confront “the powers that be?” What can I do as a follower of Jesus to serve these people? What can I do as a follower of Jesus to be a faithful steward of God’s creation? What changes can I make to reduce my usage and demand for electricity? What can I do to promote alternative forms of energy that are renewable (obviously the mountains are not renewable!)? What can I do to educate my congregation and peers about the tragedy of moutaintop removal?
I admit that I do not have answers to all of these questions. But I know that I can start doing the little things: [1] testifying before my congregation about what I saw in Wise County; [2] working harder to reduce my usage of electricity — turning off lights, changing the thermostats, using compact flourescent bulbs, paying for renewable energy sources, etc.; [3] praying for the people of southwestern Virginia … and West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee for that matter. But in my spirit I know that there must be more that I can do, especially in coming alongside the people of Appalachia and assisting them in creative ways and advocating for a ceasing of the destructive mountaintop removal process.
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:19-22 that “the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed … in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” May the true “sons and daughters of God” be revealed, those that want to faithfully do His will and reflect Him, and His heart, and His character throughout the earth. Brothers and sisters, creation is groaning and waiting in eager anticipation for us to do, and be, and act like the true people of God. As we do so, the entire creation is increasingly being released from its bondage to decay.
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