“Coal Mining,” not all its made out to be
When I worked in underground coal mines, it was union, now days mostly non-union. It’s like day and night comparing them. I could go on for days speaking of all the difference between them, since I worked twenty one years as a union miner, and the last eight were non-union. But now days, with just a few union mines operating, union mines has changed too.Last week I was watching Morgan Spurlock’s 30 days series on the FX channel, and listening to the miners talking with Morgan, where he worked 30 days with these union miners, not one of them wanted their sons to follow in their footsteps, not one. When I choose to follow in my father’s footsteps, as my older brother did also, it was hard work, but we loved what we did, and the comorodity we had with are fellow workers. It not that way anymore. The industry speaks that miners make up to 60,000 to 70,000 dollers a year now, a good paying job. If it so great, then why are all of todays miners are not wishing the same for their kids. So mining is not what it’s made out to be. In a state where the only good paying jobs are coal mining jobs, this means that our children are going to be forced to leave the land which generations have lived for hundreds of years, to find other good paying jobs to support their famlies. We must make the transition to bring in other jobs, green jobs, because if we continue to destroy our environment, with such things as mountaintop removal, which I consider not mining at all, we will never be able to recover. That is why the windfarm, which is being proposed to the Raliegh County Commission, huge thanks to Rory, will supply jobs, while it will protect the evironment, and start diversifying our region, is of the utmost importance. Good enviromental policy is exactly the same as good economic policy. So which path do we want to go down. The same old path that’s got us to where we are today, or the alternative which will keep our kids here at home the way it used to be, and the way should be.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
AMEN Mountainsaver—
AS my father mined coal and my grandfather before him—I watched their health go downhill.
My father was the hardest working man I knew adn I would give every material thing back that his salary bought us to have him back…to have him waling these hills he loved so much—to have him fishing the streams he loved so much.
I would rather be poor and have my father, the mountaineer with me and his grandchildren and great grandchildren than has all the material things $$ could buy.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I have seen the appalachian mountains twice now, and there is a richness in the land and in the people. If the the greed that is consuming this land is stopped this richness can flourish. Though I am only a poor young man from the south what could I know?
Keep fighting mountainsaver! I will fight down here for the mountains, and for the planet so maybe I can still teach my soon to be born son how to fish, hunt, and collect the medicines fron the land.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Thanks for giving your opinion. It’s time that we protect our environment so my kids, your kids, and their kids, will have the same opportunity as we have had. I think it is vital that kids learn as much as possible about the outdoors, and what the land has to offer. Thanks.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Yeah, WV is in for a world of hurt if the don’t do something soon. West Virginia would do well to invest in things like the Wind Farm.
I don’t consider MTR mining, either. There is no actual mine involved. It is just an operation funded by the coal industry. I think of it more as Mountaintop Demolition.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:07 am
I think we should start calling it MOUNTAIN RANGE REMOVAL! 1,000 feet doesn’t really qualify as a TOP! In most cases that’s a THIRD of the mountain’s elevation. MOUNTAIN RANGE REMOVAL - I’d be curious to hear how the coal industry defends that!
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
It doesn’t matter what job they perform, people will find something to complain about. I find all sorts of nasty things to complain about in my job too, but I keep doing it, because the nation depends on it. So does my family. As an aircraft mechanic for the major airlines, I work with the worst chemicals and pollutants around . It might take 15 years off my life, but that’s a minor issue when I consider my quality of life, and what I have accomplished. I provided for my kids until they could provide for themselves - as have millions of airline personnel and their families before me - thanks to a good job made possible by modern technology and the energy industry.
If you really desire a modern Dark Ages, with its associated hardships and disease( and it apears you do), continue to work your damndest at eliminating coal and oil extraction across the USA. Building a nation took years of hard work, creativity, resourcefulness, risk, and ingenuity by average folks with families, dreams, and aspirations like yourselves. Tearing this country down will take only a few decades of destructive, misguided protectionism. But in the face of your combined efforts, the USA’s future doesn’t stand a chance.
Good Luck.