Narrator/Intv.: |
They're
the oldest mountains in the world, but to coal companies, these ancient
Appalachians are a barrier to progress. |
|
It's
called mountaintop removal. It's a particularly aggressive form of mining,
but the concept is simple. |
Ben
Green: |
In
underground mining, you remove the mineral from the earth, and in mountaintop
removal mining, you remove the earth from the mineral. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
The
technique of repeatedly blasting and scouring the mountains was developed in
West Virginia, and the coal industry here says it's the only economically
viable future for coal. But for the people who live here, in the dead-end
valleys they call hollows, it could mean no future at all. |
|
(singing). |
|
The
rest of America calls these people mockingly hillbillies. Now, West
Virginia's hillbillies are fighting back. |
Activist: |
It's
time that we all stand up together for our people in southern West Virginia
and for our mountains and say, "Enough is enough from the coal
companies. I'll tell you what, our politicians are bought and sold!" |
Narrator/Intv.: |
At
first, this rally appears to be a simple conflict between miners and
environmentalists. |
Activist: |
Why
can't they restore the land? |
Speaker
3: |
What
is- |
Activist: |
That
creates jobs. |
Speaker
3: |
Once
the [inaudible] ... If you'd come to West Virginia- |
Activist: |
Are
you telling me you can't restore the land?! |
Speaker
3: |
I'm
saying you can. [crosstalk]- |
Activist: |
Well,
then why don't we spend our money doing that?! |
Speaker
3: |
It's
done every day. We do it every day. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
what's extraordinary about the people opposing these miners is that almost
all of them are from coal mining families. |
Larry
Gibson: |
What
we're protesting here today is about the way the coal's taken out and the
method being used. To destroy your own backyard where you have to live and
work at, I don't think that's a justified thing. |
|
I
look at being called a hillbilly as a prideful thing, because I am. The only
thing I ain't is stupid. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Larry
Gibson left school in the third grade, but that hasn't stopped him
confronting the most powerful industry in the state. |
Larry
Gibson: |
They
want to take all these mountains down through here. They can't do it with the
people here. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Life
here has been one of submission to coal for 150 years, and the small state of
West Virginia remains the second largest coal producer in America. |
|
Today,
Larry is taking me to Kayford Mountain where his
coal mining family settled in the early part of last century. |
Larry
Gibson: |
This
has been here since about 1830. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
All
that's left now is his family's cemetery. It's an island in the middle of a
mountaintop mine. |
Larry
Gibson: |
The
good Lord put these mountains here. Only the good Lord should have the right
to take them. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Larry's
campaign against mining began too late to preserve his own mountain. He saved
what he could, but he couldn't stop the mining on the land the company
already owned. |
Larry
Gibson: |
It's
like this mountain right here, right in front of you where that coal seam is
right there where that truck is over there. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Yeah. |
Larry
Gibson: |
That
mountain there used to be three times higher than what it is now. This is
what the great United States of America is letting happen to their own people
in their own land. These are the natural jewels of West Virginia, natural
jewels- |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
Ben Green, who's been in this industry for over 30 years, says he can't
understand what people are complaining about. |
Ben
Green: |
If
there's any valid explanation, it's probably maybe the size of some of the
operations today. There's no doubt about the fact that they're larger, maybe
a little more massive, far more capital investment. But the technique of
mountaintop removal is at least 30 years old. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
The
technique may not be new, but mountaintop removal on this scale has only been
possible in the last decade with the development of 20-story-high,
mountain-crushing machines called draglines. But the increase in the practise
in the 1990s is also due incredibly to improved environmental standards. |
|
When
the United States passed it's Clean Air Act eight years ago, demand for West
Virginia's clean-burning, low-sulfur coal soared.
The mountaintops were suddenly worth billions of dollars a year. |
Larry
Gibson: |
Now,
it's not just a piece a land or just a graveyard. It's my heritage. If I sit
real quiet I can almost hear the people. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Larry
Gibson doesn't dispute the economic benefits of mining here, but he does
question whether coal has had too much influence over the state's lawmakers. |
Larry
Gibson: |
Mountain
people never did get equal education, and they can do this. It's how they get
by with it. |
Michael
Miano: |
I
think it would be unfair to characterise the state's political system to be
controlled by coal. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Michael
Miano protests, but he's also one of the key
targets of this criticism. |
|
You
don't see a conflict of interest with a matter of months ago having been a
coal executive and now heading up the Department of the Environment? |
Michael
Miano: |
I
think that there was the potential question that people would have. They
might say that well, here comes another coal guy, and if he's a coal guy, he
can't be a good guy. |
|
But
I have attempted to demonstrate through my actions and activities that I am
here to enforce the law of the state and to protect the environment, restore
the environment, and do what is right for the citizens of the state of West
Virginia. |
Sibby Weekley: |
We
use them for baking. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
What
do you make with those? |
Sibby Weekley: |
Black
walnut cake. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Sibby Weekley has lived in this
hollow of Pigeonroost all her life. It's her
version of paradise. |
Sibby Weekley: |
We
use it in peanut butter fudge candy. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
You
don't want to touch them with your hand? |
Sibby Weekley: |
No,
you don't want to touch them with your hand. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
She
met her husband here. She raised her children here, and she knows where to
find the best apples and walnuts for Sunday dinner with her grandchildren. |
|
What's
the plan? |
Sibby Weekley: |
We'll
wash them, and we will peel them, and we will [inaudible]. Now, you're going
to do the same thing. Pick it up by the leg. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
coal mining is encroaching on Sibby and James Weekley's way of life. Above them, a mountaintop mine
blasts day and night. |
Sibby Weekley: |
Okay,
I'm going to ... Hey, you guys, come and get washed up. It's time to eat. |
Grandchildren: |
Okay. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Now
that mine wants to extend it's mining permit right
into this hollow. It's offered to buy the Weekleys
out. But these mountain folk are proving hard to shift. |
James
Weekley: |
Money
can't buy my memories of my kids, footsteps of my grandpa, my grandchildren.
The footsteps that I've lived in this house. Money can't buy that. Money
can't buy that. |
Grandchildren: |
[inaudible]
it out. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
It's
an argument that's been impossible to get around no matter how high the offer
has climbed. |
James
Weekley: |
The
only way they'll get me out of Pigeonroost Hollow
and my wife is to shove us out with a bulldozer, period. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
even if they stay, the mine could still come to within 300 feet of the Weekley's home. In order to show me just what that would
do to his life here, James took me fishing in his hollow. |
|
Ah,
he's big. |
James
Weekley: |
Reel
it, reel it up. That's it. Wow. Did you want to hold your fish- |
Narrator/Intv.: |
No. |
James
Weekley: |
...
that you caught? |
Narrator/Intv.: |
No. |
James
Weekley: |
Huh? |
Narrator/Intv.: |
I'll
look at him. Yup, well you're a big fish. |
|
They're
going to fill in this valley we're standing in. |
James
Weekley: |
Yes,
ma'am. If they get the 3200-acre permit, this valley right here where we're
standing will be filled in with these mountaintops from each side. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
To
try to prevent this, the Weekleys are taking up the
fight on another for them unfamiliar front. Along with other locals, they're
bringing a lawsuit to stop the state government from issuing the permit to
extend the mine. |
James
Weekley: |
As
you can hear, the creeks run out here, ma'am. Listen how beautiful it is. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
It's
a suit James trustingly believes he will win if only he can make people
understand how special his home is. |
James
Weekley: |
If
they issue this permit, we have no home. That's the reason I ask these people
to reach really down into their hearts. Put theirself
in our position, see if they would want their home took from them the way the
coal company wants them to take ours. It's not fair. It's not fair. |
|
Poppy
loves you. Come back and see Poppy. |
Grandchildren: |
Okay. |
Sibby Weekley: |
Give
him a kiss [inaudible]. |
James
Weekley: |
Poppy
loves you. |
Grandchildren: |
Love
you. |
Sibby Weekley: |
Love
you. |
James
Weekley: |
[inaudible]. |
Grandchildren: |
[inaudible]. |
Sibby Weekley: |
I
love you. |
James
Weekley: |
Bye,
babies. |
Sibby Weekley: |
Yeah,
I'll take you to the car. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
From
this perspective, it looks like the mountain people are fighting a losing
battle. It's early morning in Blair, the town closest to the Weekley's hollow. As families are getting ready for work,
looming over them is one of the new generation of monster machines mining
closer and closer to their homes. |
|
Charles
Bartram stands outside his home of 35 years watching and waiting. |
Charles
Bartram: |
All
them big storms that come through that way. They've cut that mountain down
'til they hit right in here. They're going on down with it. There's another
seam of coal under where they're working there now. They'll take it all. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
As
he watches progress on the mountain, this 80-year-old ex-miner is also
pondering an offer to sell his home to the mining company. |
Charles
Bartram: |
They
want to get rid of all of us. There's a big seam of coal down under here
they're going to get to, a seven-foot seam of coal down under here, and they
want to get us out of here. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Do
you think they will? |
Charles
Bartram: |
Oh,
yeah. Yeah, they'll get everybody. They'll get them, because they know
there's no future for them here. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Already,
there are signs of a community disintegrating. Homes are abandoned. One of
the two schools has closed. Business has slowed to a halt at the barber shop. |
Blair
res. 1: |
That's
the ones we can name, and we probably missed some of them. I don't know. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Here,
the main activity is keeping tabs on the changes in the town. |
Blair
res. 1: |
I
got a list here, and we've been accounting how many families have moved out.
We got about 136 that we can name that they have bought out, and they've
gone. I think there's less than 80 families now. |
Blair
res. 2: |
70. |
Blair
res. 1: |
There's
less than 70? Here now, so we're going to disappear we think. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
there are West Virginians who see benefits in the changes brought by mining. |
|
This
is reclaimed land then? |
Mike
Snelling: |
This
is reclaimed land. This area was mined about eight years ago by Princess
Beverly. As you can see, the grasses are starting to come back- |
Narrator/Intv.: |
The
mining company operating above Blair refused to let us on site. |
Mike
Snelling: |
This
is what I wanted you to see. This is not virgin areas that we're going to be
mining. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
Mike Snelling from this privately owned company did show us around and
stressed that much of the land mined here has already been badly damaged by
decades of underground mining. |
Mike
Snelling: |
What
we do is we go into these areas, yes, we do mountaintop mining, but we put
them back. We supply jobs for the people. We think we're doing really an
improvement to the environment. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Mike
says it's impossible to put the mountains back as steep as they were, but
mining companies are not alone in seeing advantages in this. Just a reminder
that this is the state's chief environmental defender. |
Michael
Miano: |
Now,
some would say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If I'm there with a
side of a mountain as steep as a cow's face, the value, it would be low. But
when you can flatten that area, so that you can build something on it, so
that you can grow something on it, so that you can harvest from it, then the
value increases significantly. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
None
of this has swayed Larry Gibson as he continues on his mission to rally the
community, give mountain people support, and listen to their stories. |
Speaker
14: |
Well,
I heard a blast, and there was rocks a flying. I had my cat out here. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
The
community complaints have prompted the mining industry to concede there've
been at least some grounds for concern. |
Speaker
14: |
I
thought well, Lord have mercy, and looked around, and he's on this hill here
rocks and stuff flying. |
Ben
Green: |
Yes,
we've had flyrock incidents in which rock have come
off of a shot that's gone wrong. We've had water quality dust. What I call
the nuisance kinds of activity that, of course, have impacted people. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
there are some consequences of mountaintop removal that can't be dismissed as
mere nuisance issues. One of those, the creation of valley fills is now not
only a concern for the communities but for the industry itself, precisely,
because, it's integral to the mining process. |
|
Once
the coal is removed, this is where the top of the mountain ends up. The
unwanted rock and rubble is dumped over the edge of the mountain into the
valley below filling in where streams once ran, and often people once lived. |
|
Already,
469 miles of West Virginia's streams have been buried like this. The state
government has approved it without any scientific analysis of its long-term
impact. |
Activist: |
The
state when they permit these sites have only looked at one site at a time.
They're not looking at the cumulative impacts. The 469 miles of streams that
already buried, we don't know in the long run what kind of impact that's
going to have. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Answers
are now being sought by the federal authorities. |
Protestors: |
Stop
mountaintop removal. Stop mountaintop removal. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
It's
become so politically uncomfortable for the state governor that he's set up a
task force to examine the issue. |
Protestor
1: |
Why
are we out here? Because we're not allowed on the panel inside. Citizens are
not on the task force. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
these people don't have confidence in the task force. |
Task
Force rep.: |
How
are current laws regarding blasting enforced- |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Michael
Miano seems to regard it as unnecessary. |
Michael
Miano: |
There
is plenty of history and background to suggest that there is no significant
impact on the environment. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
Well,
you're hardly going to know about any environmental problems if you haven't
done any scientific study. |
Michael
Miano: |
Then
we can use that argument, and we can be back in a cave deciding whether we
should chip out a wheel or not. I'm here to tell you that if there was a
significant concern with this type of mining that it would not be allowed. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
But
the federal environment agencies beg to differ, and they're now holding up
state mining permits until they get some answers on the long-term impact of
West Virginia's valley fills. A development that has the mining industry
decidedly testy. |
Ben
Green: |
It's
getting real critical as to whether they have to lay off miners. All of that
has been brought about by the controversy, if you want to call it that, with
the people in the southern part of the state particularly in the community at
Blair. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
James
Weekley sits overlooking his hollow at Blair. |
James
Weekley: |
I've
been going back to that rock ever since I was a little boy. It makes me think
of the good times. Now, it hurts to watch and see what [inaudible]. |
Narrator/Intv.: |
He
doesn't yet know if his home will be spared. But West Virginia's hillbillies
can at least claim to have made the coal companies take notice. |