Roane County Meditation Group Visits Kayford Mountain

	From left: Ken and Barb Lewis, Carey Lea, Rita Lewis and Sherry Lung talk about their first impressions of the mountaintop removal on Kayford Mountain. photo by Janet Keating

by Janet Keating

On a beautiful October afternoon, several folks in the Roane County meditation group joined a few OVEC members and made their way to Kayford Mountain to see the destruction caused by mountaintop removal.

As many people know, Kayford Mountain, the ancestral homeplace and family burial grounds of OVEC’s Larry Gibson and his clan, is almost encircled by flattened mountains. On our way to the top, we paused for a closer look at a valley fill – a gigantic, surreal, stair-like structure consisting of millions of tons of mining rubble.

These artificial configurations – remnants of the brutalized mountain – are made by trying to compact rocks and debris in hopes of slowing water run-off. By literally filling in a valley and the headwater streams, coal companies have found a "cheap" method of waste disposal. Anyone has to wonder why our state and federal governments allow the burying of water in a world dying of thirst.

We talked about the amazing diversity of the forest that surrounded us – the mixed mesophytic forest, one of the most biologically diverse forests on the planet. Here, in this place, more than 80 hardwood and under-story species of trees reside along with a rich forest floor covered with countless useful herbs like ginseng – our mountains, our forests, our wildlife, a true cornucopia of species. Mountaintop removal converts this biological treasure trove to a moonscape.

We were greeted by Larry and his wife Carol, Tonya Stanley (Larry’s cousin) and others who had taken part in Larry’s Changing of the Leaves festival – Kayford Mountain’s last hurrah before fall’s glory is transformed by frost and snow. Beneath the picnic shelter, Sage Russo, with Christians for the Mountains, was finishing up a sermonette with a group of college students.

We quietly slipped away, on our way to what Larry calls Hell’s Gate, where the devastation of mountaintop removal can be viewed and in the distance Coal River Mountain – as yet untouched by mining – can be seen.

The group questioned the lack of real reclamation and wondered why non-native grasses were used on the site. They asked about the lack of economic development on the mountaintop removal sites; I shared with them the true story of the prison – known to the locals as Sink-Sink – built on a Kentucky mine site, where $42 million had to be spent to shore up the building on the ever-shifting ground.

As we turned our gaze towards Coal River Mountain, I told them about Coal River Mountain Watch’s proposed industrial wind farm on Coal River Mountain where Massey Energy wants to mine 6,600 acres. Left intact, a wind farm on this site could produce clean, renewable energy as long as the turbines are maintained – forever. Like the energy produced from the wind or sun, the jobs would also last forever, unlike temporary mining jobs.

Back at Stanley Heirs Park, the group ate a late lunch and spent time listening to Larry talk about a childhood of trials that helped shape him to stand strong against mining companies.

Truly, Larry stands tall among all the good people speaking out; he is courageous and relentless in this cause. He seldom takes time off.

OVEC truly appreciates the Roane County meditation group’s interest in mountaintop removal and knows that they came away with much to contemplate.

We hope that they will help OVEC spread the word to their families and friends. Together we can end this mind-boggling environmental destruction.