The People Comment Passionately On
Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

July 24, 2003

Comments by Richard A. Bradford
Edwight, WV

My scars from mountaintop removal have been more psychological than physical.

All my life, I have been free to roam the mountains and valleys near my home. Now, I would be considered a lawbreaker and a trespasser if I were to go back to these places. The first thing a coal company does when it takes a lease it to build a gate, hire security guards (whom they dress as county deputies to intimidate the public), and install cameras to limit access. I consider this to be an infringement of my civil rights.

Sometimes a blast from a nearby mountaintop surface mine will rattle the windows and doors n my house, even to the point of hearing the sheetrock tear from the nails in the ceiling, and if the blasting gets closer the whole house may slip off the props holding it up and slide onto the railroad tracks down below.

And maybe a large boulder from the cliffs up above the house will be dislodged by the blasting and destroy the house.

I have Public Service District water, but I also have a deep well which I hope will not be harmed by the blasting.

The dust from the big trucks going into the mines are slowly breaking down the truss bridge which is the community's only outlet to the main highway.

My yard is full of squirrels, rabbits, and bears that have been chased out of the mountains by the blasting of the strip miners and by the logging which is a precursor to mountaintop removal stripping. The little animals coming out of the mountains are nothing more than skin and bones because their food source has been removed. I love to feed these little animals, but I would like to see the coal companies and logging companies pay part of the feed bill.

I would say that mountaintop removal strip mining has had a severe impact on my life and the life of my community.

Yours sincerely,
Richard A. Bradford
Edwight, WV