This news story originally provided by The State Journal

April 1, 2005

Don't We Have Problems of Our Own?

With all our experience, you'd think West Virginia would be able to screw up itself without any help.

But for as long as there's been a hillbilly to pity, people from someplace else have been trying to save us from ourselves.

Whether it was John Brown's imported slave rebellion, Eleanor Roosevelt's social experiment in government housing or Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, mixed-up do-gooders from the wider world have long been a part of what ails us.

And we've still got plenty of people looking past the misery in their own front yards to gaze down on poor, benighted West Virginia.

And, sadly, we help them do it.

Some West Virginians believe that nothing good other than Cyrus Vance and Golden Delicious Apples ever came from these 55 counties, so they glom onto anything that comes in from the big city.

These days, the do-gooders' focus isn't on saving the people, who are showing disturbing signs of conservatism anyway. The idea now is to save the land in spite of the people.

We learned this week that West Virginia will be treated to a visit by the traveling eco-circus.

The enthusiastically named EarthFirst! and a confederation of other environmentalists of the frothy variety are on their way to save our hills and dales.

Apparently all this coal mining is making our landscape less picturesque than they'd like, and they've decided to come here for what they're calling "Mountain Justice Summer."

What could have been a great name for a celebrity's new baby has been wasted on what promises to be a rather unglamorous event. Until August, West Virginia will be thick with Birkenstocks and patchouli oil.

These are the kind of environmentalists who say they won't use violence but are dangerous enough to have to make that clear.

We can expect padlocked gates, people chained to equipment, human shields in front of pine trees and maybe even a sit-in. Throw in some dried fruit and a glass of soy milk, and you've got yourself a party.

It's nice to know that even if we're foolish enough to try to keep our economy from total collapse, they would be willing to do it for us.

This mobilization demonstrates what a funny time this is for West Virginia coal.

America is waking up to the prospects of energy independence and low-emission power from coal, driving up demand.

At the same time, the future of mountaintop mining remains in doubt. The movement to allow only unprofitable mining is alive and well.

Sooner or later, the two trends will collide, with West Virginia's future right in the middle.

You can bet on the market winning out. The objections to strip mining probably will be plowed under by the need for cheap, abundant electricity.

Another reason that the effort to stop mountaintop removal will fail is that its opponents will continue to fail to connect with the needs of real West Virginians.

Given the choice between a good job and preserving the natural crest of a mountain, it's not hard to figure out where the rational choice lies. And for those who put their kids through college blasting through rock and dirt, those rounder ridge tops probably look a little beautiful anyway.

Any argument that relies on convincing someone to go on the dole so they can enjoy scenic splendor is doomed to fail, even in southern West Virginia.

Chris Stirewalt is political editor for The State Journal. He can be reached at (304) 720-6553 or by e-mail at cstirewalt@statejournal.com.