An E-Mail
An e-mail from a reader in CharlestonThoughts on today's column
What we do know about the impact of mountaintop removal is that it is the cheapest, least labor intensive form of mining and that fewer jobs are created than you might think.
It's not likely that even five centuries will reforest the mountains. Greece, Lebanon and even Ireland have not recovered from deforestation, and in those countries the soil was left in place, not shoved out of the way. And when the forests disappeared so did birds.
What I find amusing about the Massey ads with the farmer and the teacher is that these people are surely actors, probably from Virginia. Do we know whether the people in the we live here too ads are actors or Massey employees? Do we know how many people would want to be in an ad saying we'd like to return to West Virginia? Do you suppose that they will stream back once Logan county is leveled?
And why does coal even need friends? Is there a Friends of Autos in Michigan? Friends of Motion Pictures in southern California? Friends of Corn in Iowa? Do you see a trend here?
My husband is an 8th generation West Virginian convinced that coal is a curse on the state and we'd have been better off without it.
posted by Dave Peyton @ 7:48 PM
1 Comments:
I doubt that it takes centuries for the forest to replenish itself. Wasn't it just in the 1920's that much of WV was stripped of its forest yet most has regrown. The unknown factor is the processing of soil. Certainly a coal company that shows no concern for renewing the hardwood population of their "reclaimed" land is not going to aide the process but as long as we continue to allow them to slide by with a slap on the wrist, never chastizing them for fear of economic reprisals, we're going to run the risk of further abuse.
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