Demolishing Appalachia
Contributed photo
A “Coal Country” production crew interviews Kathy Selvedge, center, at her Wise County home.
A Wise County, Va., woman is among the stars of a controversial film on mountaintop removal mining that premieres today in Charleston, W.Va.
The film, “Coal Country,” looks at the negative effects of surface coal mining on Appalachian residents and communities in four states. Kathy Selvage, a Wise County activist opposed to mining practices used in the region, is among those featured in the documentary.
“I believe our hope is it brings international exposure to that and also that it furthers a conversation about where we go in energy policy in this country,” Selvage said of the film. “I hope it opens people’s minds to the problems that are the side effects of mountaintop removal coal mining. I hope it opens people’s hearts to the suffering that goes on in communities where this mining occurs right where people live.”
After the premiere in Charleston, more screenings are planned at film festivals and in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, said the film’s executive producer, Mari-Lynn Evans. The 90-minute movie also will be shown in thousands of smaller screenings around the country – including Bristol and Wise County, Va. – before it begins airing on public television.
Evans said she has worked to tell both sides of the story.
Barbara Altizer, executive director of the Eastern Coal Council, offered the same response she said she has given regarding other coal-related films in recent years: Viewer beware.
Evans, a West Virginia native, said she sought to put a face on those who are negatively affected by mining, but also on the coal industry.
“At the point we started working on this film four years ago, I had no idea it was going to come out in the most contentious, critical time in the history of the coalfields, but it has,” Evans said. “People need to realize what these coalfield residents are saying, and people also need to listen to these miners who say we
have three options: We work for coal; we work for a fast-food restaurant; or we leave the state. Because it’s a mono-economy, and that mono-economy has enslaved this culture of people.”
Altizer said that after looking at the film’s Web site she doesn’t think it really shows both sides of the story.
She said people need to look at the whole process of mining and reclamation – not just the way a site looks at a point in time – and consider that extensive state and federal regulations govern the process. She estimates that only 1 percent of the region’s population has been seriously affected in a negative way by surface mining.
“Anything you build you’ve got to mess up,” Altizer said, comparing a surface mine to a house under construction.
“It [mining] has provided areas for home sites, airports, shopping strips, golf courses … there’s lots of positive things out of it, and you just never ever get the opportunity to read about that. And when people see this movie, they’re going to be less informed about our industry.”
Altizer also said that in Southwest Virginia, where coal severance tax revenue has been used for two decades to diversify the economy, real development has taken place in industries other than coal, much of it on land flattened by mining.
“I hope you … will realize they’ve shown what it looks like at the beginning, and yes it’s not very attractive, but you can realize that after it’s been reclaimed there are a lot of beneficial uses and yes it can be attractive again,” Altizer said.
Evans said a divide has come to the mountains where coal is mined, between those who want more than anything to preserve their land and those who work for the coal industry to put food on the table.
“My brother is a coal miner. My sister is a rabid environmentalist,” Evans said. “This issue is so volatile, it really is brother against brother.”
She compares the situation to a 1921 march by West Virginia coal miners demanding better working and living conditions – a protest that turned deadly after law enforcement acted against the marchers.
“ ‘People that don’t understand the past are condemned to repeat it,’ is just a phrase that keeps coming through my mind,” she said.
“Why are these people [in the Appalachian region] the poorest in the United States of America when they are living on land that is the richest in the United States of America? It seems obvious from that alone that there is a problem. ... We’ve got to figure out how Appalachia is going to flourish in a future that does not involve coal.”
Like Evans, Selvage said she doesn’t have all the answers, but she’d like to see coal subsidies diverted to green energy projects and elected leaders in Richmond and Washington working on a solution that considers the region’s economic needs along with its environmental needs.
There is a need for technology-related jobs, she said, so the sons and daughters of the coalfields have a reason to return home after college, and so America can find the power it needs without destroying its mountains.
People here don’t need charity, Selvage said, they need empowerment and the means to earn a living while protecting the land they’ve cherished for generations.
| (276) 791-0701
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
I grew up in Pound in the 60’s and I don’t think the coal companies have caused Pound to loose business. The best I can remember is that when the business in Pound didn’t want the fast food resturants that were just starting to come into the area then the resturants went to Wise and Norton. Other new business then came to Wise & Norton and then the people shopping went to Wise & Norton and no new stores opened up in Pound. And as far as Pound High School I didn’t realize it was the coal companies job to build new schools I always thought the county supervisors were responsible for that. Some people do need to check into the coal severance tax and see what the county would do without it. As to where it is being spent I’m sure you could find that out also.
If strip and mountaintop removal mining was so great for our communities where has all that prosperity been for our kids high school education ?
http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138
Main street Pound should look more like Dubai than Darfur.
tmullins, I don’t know why you stay in an area that makes you feel so miserable. You are one dissatisfied person.
I grew up in Buchanan County in the fifities and sixties, and I’ll say this without going into the details, I believe economically and environmentally it’s far better today than it was then. As for the schools all, except Grundy Senior High School, which was constructed in the early sixties have been replaced. As for the quality of education, I don’t think it’s anything to brag about.
By the way, I think the reason Pound High School hasn’t been replaced is they’ve been trying to consolidate over there for years, and they haven’t been able to get it done. I might be wrong, but that may be what the problem is. Also, they found 20 or 30 million dollars to construct a theater or auditorium at UVA Wise, and they had every politician in Wise County lined up taking credit for it. Maybe you ought to ask them why that took priority, if Pound needs a new high school as badly as you say they do.
I remember growing up the quality of life in Pound back in the 60’s and early 70’s in comparison to now. Pound High School is so old and outdated, they can’t even power up the latest technology kids in Pound deserve to compete on a global stage. Wise County is being demolished to power The Empire of China. If you want to see the progress of Pound please take a drive down main street or take a look at my web site and see the proof.
http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138
Our streams, rivers and lakes are polluted with heavy metals and disease. Is that prosperity ?
Commonsense, I believe your analysis is darn near right on.
Pvt. Kona-
Do you know how many MW can be generated from one of your windmills? ...and how many windmills it would take to generate more than 1/2 of the electricity in the US to replace coal?
Have you ever calculated how much this Nation sends to OPEC EVERY DAY? Do you know how much YOU send to OPEC every week?
As a matter of fact- you wouldn’t last one day as an underground coal miner- you’re too lazy!
You always preach your Govt. liberals, but they are precisely the ones who have skirted this nations energy independence since Jimmy Carter and just made DOE a sloth of bureaucrats. They’ve done nothing for you, nor me, nor our neighbors.
And, as for landowners- do you know who owns the land in Wyoming where millions of tons of coal are removed EVERY DAY? Yes, your precious federal Government- and yes, they get a royalty on every ton removed.
As for Ms Selvedge, I’m sure she won’t tell an objective story- that wouldn’t suit her purpose.
Do you remember the quality of life in Appalachia back in the 60’s & early 70’s- oh yes, you were too busy getting smoked-up weren’t you, and probably still are by your previous posts.
You can demonize the coal industry, but it has improved you life for many years past and had better continue or you might as well stop selling pipes and turn to camels.
Unfortunately, you’re a liberal democrat first, a few other things, in my opinion, and being an American is somewhere well down your list.
raw, I realize that some will never change their perspective no matter what you present to them. I doubt either of them has ever been near a reclaimed strip mine. They only see the pictures the propagandist publish to further their agenda.
Here’s something to think about, if I owned a mountain, and I wanted to level that mountain to build a shopping mall, a factory, and office building or whatever. I could, clear the vegetation, blast away the rock and dirt, until I had level ground to the extent I desired. All that would be required of me would be a sediment and erosion control plan. However, if there is coal there, and I decide to have that coal loaded and sell it, to cover some of my expenses, I then fall under a different set of rules, but if I choose not to load the coal I can pretty much do has I please with very little scrutiny by the government.
Point being, that when I decided to pick up the coal I crossed the line from doing something productive; building a shopping mall, factory, housing development, airport, school, etc. to doing something evil, leveling the mountains to mine the coal.
As I have said before this is private property, surface mining can not occur without the conscent of the surface owner. It can not occur without endearing a long, arduous, and expensive permitting process. There is also a bond that must be acquired and sites are often monitored, and water quality tested for years after mining is complete. The bond is held until the state declares the site environmentally sound, so what’s the problem?
We would just like to be left alone to go about our business. Going to work and raising our families, as we have done for years. It’s hard to figure why these people can’t just leave us alone. It’s like they always have to find a scapegoat. Someone to blame their shortcomings on. Sad way to go through life isn’t it?
The use of coal will double or triple in the next century. Shut it down? That will never happen.
Russ: sorry my friend, but there is no dabating with CaptCheech or Daddy-O. they are blinded by their own smoke.they are two of the most anti-capitalistic,wealth envy,and anti-personal freedom folks i know.
they have no clue about the coal industry and never will. they know what they read on the left-wing wacko sites ,like moveon,huffington post, and the daily kos and take it to be the gospel.
Dad: you are partially right about the solar and wind power. they could hraness enough electricity to power the country. the problem is transmitting that power. the lines will not be able to carry it long distances.(go ahead and research it,and not in the enquirer)therefore you would have wind turbines and solar panels all over the mountains and valleys,then you would have to listen to your environmental wimps cry and whine about ruining the landscape.
There’s a difference in shutting down coal vs. shutting down mountaintop removal.
www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138
Advertisement