This article originally published by The Charleston Gazette

May 22, 2007

Denise Giardina

Let us be clear: Mountaintop removal not about creating jobs

The column by Steve Roberts and Kenny Perdue on May 16 is reprehensible on a number of levels. It is reprehensible first because it is a lie. Roberts and Perdue make it sound as though environmentalists are trying to shut down the coal industry at the cost of thousands of jobs. But the current court cases involve only mountaintop removal. Deep mining would not be affected by any of the court cases, and it is deep mining that provides jobs. Mountaintop removal provides employment mostly for machines, not people.

The column is reprehensible because it shows the depths to which we have fallen in this state. Not since the 1960s has organized labor operated in so corrupt a manner. When labor unions are found in bed with coal companies, more than obscenity is involved. The people of West Virginia suffer immense harm.

The attack by Roberts and Perdue is reprehensible on another level, for it attacks the decent citizens of West Virginia who are trying to protect their beloved state and mountains. It uses inflammatory language that could invite others to level attacks, even violent ones. If that happens, Roberts and Perdue and their ilk will be responsible.

Such a blatant attack upon basic human decency calls for an equally blunt response. In this case, we have gone beyond polite discourse and political niceties. When people in positions of power decide to support a great evil, they must be called out and held accountable. In this case, it is the coal companies who use mountaintop removal, and their shills like Roberts and Perdue, who should be held up for contempt.

I will be as blunt as I can be. Mountaintop removal is evil, and those who support it are supporting evil. The mountains of West Virginia are God’s greatest gift to West Virginia. To destroy the mountains is to spit in the face of God Almighty. Our state motto and state song are about the mountains. Our state university’s football team is named after the mountains. Blowing apart these beautiful mountains is an attack upon this state and this people.

The Gazette quotes a coal company employee as saying, “I have lived in Southern West Virginia all my life. This is the only home I’ve ever known. I would like to be able to raise my child here.”

I have news for you, sir. I, too, grew up in Southern West Virginia, and I was forced to leave and to see my community annihilated, thanks to the coal industry. You are helping to destroy what’s left. It is a terribly sad situation when someone spends their time blowing up the only home they have ever known. And if you continue with this destructive behavior, you may raise your child there, but your child will never be able to live there in the future. Your bosses are destroying your child’s future, and they are using you to do it.

Destructive jobs should never be countenanced, much less supported by our so-called business and labor leaders. What is next? Will the Chamber of Commerce support the jobs created by drug dealers? After all, drug dealers have families to feed. Will the AFL-CIO support the jobs created by prostitution? Prostitutes are also desperate for work. Perhaps we should instead go about diversifying our economy and weaning the state away from dependence upon a single, dying industry.

Let us be clear. Mountaintop removal is not about creating jobs, it is about enriching coal companies. Mountaintop removal destroys deep mining jobs, and ensures that other companies will never, ever locate here. It assures that the only future for Southern West Virginia will be as a garbage dump.

One of the pretexts for the Iraq war was that Saddam Hussein had destroyed the marshlands of southern Iraq, thus depriving the “Marsh Arabs” of their homes and land. What is the difference between the actions of Saddam Hussein and those who support destroying the mountains of West Virginia? Nothing.

The great Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land.” He also wrote a song called “Pretty Boy Floyd.” The lyrics end like this: “Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered, I’ve seen lots of funny men. Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.”

Just as Guthrie, during the Depression, pondered over the difference between a bank robber and a bank, I puzzle over the modern-day difference between a terrorist and someone who supports mountaintop removal. One destroys with a bomb, the other with a fountain pen, dynamite and a dragline. God help us.

Denise Giardina grew up in McDowell County and is a Charleston novelist.