The People Comment Passionately On
Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

July 24, 2003

Comments by Maria Pitzer, Bobwhite WV

Hello my name is Maria Pitzer. These are my children, Jessie and Chrystal Gunnoe. We are from Bobwhite in Boone County. We are against mountaintop removal. We are a family that lives in the constant shadow of mountaintop removal, valley fills and slurry ponds. The mining around us has destroyed our quality of life. The blasting from the mines is a constant reminder of why our lives have changed so much. My children are not allowed to play in the water that runs through our property, because the ponds run straight into it. The aquatic life in this stream is all but gone. Catching bait or fishing is a waste of time now, because there isn't anything there to catch, unless it would be some incurable disease. Who can say that, with the utmost certainty, this will not endanger my children's health? You, the panel of people who say that what the mine companies are doing is okay. I'm sorry but this has not yet been a trustworthy source.

I have lived on this same property for 35 years of my life. In the same town with the same people, that are all saying the same thing-- "Mountaintop removal is going to run us out of our homes and off our land like it has so many before us." I'm beginning to wonder--are they right?

We were flooded in 2001--3 times. With each rainstorm the creek and river fills up more with rocks and debris. In 2002, we were flooded once again. The creek now runs much deeper and faster than it ever has. Then, on June 16th of 2003, we were flooded horribly. The storm was what the mine company called a once in a hundred year storm. I heard it was an act of God, which is like saying that the Buffalo creek flood was an act of God. I remember when I was a child it rained until I was running in water up to my knees--in this same yard that is now gone. These catastrophic floods didn't happen then. Why are they happening now? MTR is why. I'm not sure what all the scientific tests tell you, but common sense tells me that if you pour water onto a rock it's going to roll off, if you pour it into soil it will absorb.

The flood on June 16th has ruined our life. The rains came and the water in the hollow coming thru our property rose so fast that we didn't have a chance to react. We were trapped in every direction. The river running by me was still clear and the hollow washing into this river was raging. I was being flooded by a stream that, 3 years ago before the stripping started, I could step over. Within 3 hours after it started raining we had lost almost everything. The water coming by me was sent in on mudslides that filled the creek and moved the water closer to our house. The mudslide tore through my barn and through my orchard of fruit trees, where one of our dogs was tied out. The water and mud came so fast that we couldn't get our dog out. The next morning his collar was lying in the water's new path. As the water and mud continued down it filled a 5 foot culvert that had just recently been put back in from the storms of 2001. From 1981 until 2001 it was a 3 foot culvert. It was part of our access. The water washed around the 5ft culvert and took out my septic system, my bridge and all of my driveway and most of my yard. My yard now drops into a 15 foot crater. It's not safe for my children to play in their own yard. The entire path that this creek took through our property has been destroyed. There are still more mudslides in this creek's path waiting to come out. The quality of our well water has compromised, to say the least. Up until the 16th we had good water but now it's terrible. We are now carrying water.

Thank God the flood water and mud stopped 20 feet short of our house. Our house as of right now is okay. OUR HOME IS DESTROYED! The life that we have always known is now non-existent. Hikes through our own land are now unsafe. We have so many slides and mining breaks. We are of Cherokee nationality and we have always been taught to live off the land. This heritage will no longer be passed down because it is being destroyed with each blast. Everyone that has a hand in allowing this mining practice to continue is allowing West Virginia and its heritage to fade away. We the people of West Virginia are going to pay the ultimate price. We have to live here after the coal is gone. The mine companies don't care to leave us in ruin and leave our people poor. Leaving for us would mean a complete change of lifestyles, something we are not willing to do.

As a family, we used to love to sit on my front porch and watch a storm come and go. Now it terrifies us to see a storm come. When the rains start everyone gets scared of what going to happen next? If it's raining no one in our house sleeps. My daughter, at 9 years old, is constantly worried with the mining going on around us. She seen a sticker that said, "Coal keeps the lights on." She replied by saying, "Yeah, but the trees keep our air clean." She knows what effects MTR, valley fill and their ponds are having on us. Yet, the college educated scientist is still looking for the reasons we are all getting flooded so horribly, so often. Hopefully this will open up your eyes and make you see that the community impact of MTR is simply devastation. The rights of people in Baghdad, it seems, are more important than the rights of the U.S. Citizens. I know our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are pretty much gone--thanks to MTR and its practices. If you can sleep with yourselves, I guess we have no choice but to stay up with the storms.