Mountaintop Removal and you

I recently (although not too recently) had the privledge of attending the Baltimore premiere of
"Black Diamonds," a documentary from Baltimore-by-way-of-southern-West-Virginia filmmaker Catherine Pancake, at the Creative Alliance. After the viewing, a small panel discussion took place with speakers who were featured in the movie. The film centers around the Appalachian people's struggle with the everyday problems of Big Coal and more particularly the strip-mining method commonly referred to as "mountaintop removal" (MTR.) the most problematic being flooding the endangerment of citizens lives.

Like myself, Pancake spent a significant time in her life in West Virginia, where this subject is often quiet yet ever present. It tends to polarize those who either see themselves as "for" or "against" the clearing of mountaintops to get to seams of coal, and then dumping the fill into the valleys and streams. Of course this is a complex subject that can be approached from many directions, but is mostly seen as a debate between industry (i.e. jobs) and environment. I feel that, no matter what side of the fence that anyone sits upon, this doc focuses directly on the human aspects of this "elephant in the room." Particularly, the filmmakers choose to direct the attention to residents of southern West Virginia, such as Marie Gunnoe (pictured) and Julie Bonds, who live on the frontlines of this battle that has been slowly wagging for over 25 years.

Pancake shows an obvious environmental slant in the film, which makes it more a passionate document and less of a news-magazine profile, by placing more blame on the coal industry than any other source. My personal beliefs are that the coal industry giants (companies such as Massey and King Coal) have taken advantage of Appalachia and its people, by turning over major profits while over-looking the environmental backlash. However, it can't be that simple. Production is only a part of the equation; what the film failed to address, but was highlighted in the post-film discussion by Mrs. Bonds, was the role of Americans in consuming energy and electricity. Appalachian coal provides electricity for many states outside of the region, and we should all make the concerted effort to cut back on consumption.

I encourage all citizens of this country, and possibly the world, to actively research this topic on his/her own. It hits home for me very hard because my father's company relies on the commerce of the coal industry, and he and I have discussed this matter in a dignified manner and he makes some pretty convincing arguments the suggest the necessity of MTR... and it mainly has to do with consumption.

Here are some of the links on the topic:
Larry Gibson and Kayford Mountain
An article from the Mother Jones Journal
www.ilovemountains.org