They were rallying for coal in Castlewood, Virginia

BY DEBRA McCOWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
CASTLEWOOD, Va. – Kenneth Keys has been a coal miner for more than 40 years. His father worked for the industry, as did his uncles. It is

how he raised his children.
“I think it’s terrible that people are trying to do away with it,” Keys said. “It’s been the lifeblood of my family.”
Just down the hill from where Keys was listening to bluegrass bands play at an inaugural coal festival here Saturday, a handful of

exhibitors touted the benefits of mining in the region and the many products produced from coal.
“You don’t have any steel without coal,” said Harry Childress, the government affairs agent for Cumberland Resources. “No cars. No

buildings.”
Childress pointed to a poster listing more than 150 commercial and public-use facilities built on former surface mine sites – flat land that

would not have existed otherwise. He said those who work in the industry have begun to feel under attack in the past few months, as the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency began reviewing and suspending mining permits that already had been issued.
“People are responding back and showing how much they appreciate coal and the people who mine it,” Childress said of Saturday’s festival and

other pro-coal events popping up around the Appalachian region.
Keys, 60, who started working as a surface miner when he was 19, said he can’t understand the motivation behind the activists who are

fighting coal mining.
“It’s unreasonable,” he said. “If they do what they’re trying to do … they’re going to shut down this region of Appalachia.”
Recalling the huge number of people he sees from the coalfields shopping and eating at the stores and restaurants of Bristol’s Exit 7, Keys

said the economic impact of this one industry is also much greater than people realize outside the state’s coal-producing counties.
“In my opinion,” he said, “some of the people that’s doing this don’t actually know what they’re doing.”
Funded primarily by industry and area tourism agencies, Saturday’s festival featured bluegrass and country music along with coal-related

information booths.
Tourism officials insist the coal festival was not political in nature. Yet, it comes at a time when political tension is high on two issues

that could hit the coal industry hard: carbon dioxide limits and federal efforts to end surface mining in Appalachia.
A public hearing on surface mining-related permits earlier this month attracted hundreds of people, many of whom spoke in Big Stone Gap

about the importance of coal. Some of those who turned out for Saturday’s festival did so with strong opinions.
“If the coal industry shuts down, that’s our survival here,” said Rita Surratt, president of the Dickenson County Chamber of Commerce and

county tourism director who also heads up the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority.
Just 30 minutes away in Abingdon, activists on the opposite side of the issue rallied Saturday to spread their message about the need for

humans to end global warming. The Abingdon rally focused on changing Americans’ consumer lifestyles but also pointed to coal as a culprit in

global warming; it was one of thousands of events coordinated by 350.org, an organization that supports a global climate change agreement

and an end to the burning of coal.
But as political pressure has mounted on environmental issues associated with coal, industry supporters have begun to raise their voices,

said Ted Pile, spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources, one of several companies that sponsored Saturday’s festival.
“There are a lot of first-time events that are showing up this year, and I think frankly it’s a good thing that the people whose livelihoods

depend on this industry are starting to get involved and speak up, which hasn’t always been the case in the past,” Pile said.
“Sometimes the politicians forget about the faces of coal and the people that are really tied to the industry in so many different ways,” he

said. “Not only people who are directly employed but also the downstream businesses that service coal and support coal, everyone from the

machinery maintenance shop to the local diner. We hope that resonates with not only their representatives but also reaches Washington.”
Linda Tate, executive director of the Russell County Chamber of Commerce and chairwoman of the Virginia Coal Heritage Trail, said she hopes

to make the festival an annual event – and grow it into something larger as a thank-you to the folks who make the economy run.
“This is just in honor of our coal miners and our coal mining industry and to preserve our history and heritage,” she said. “Southwest

Virginia is based on coal mining, everybody is affected by coal mining in one way or another. We just want it to be presented in a positive

way.”

dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701