This just in from Coal River Mountain Watch:
SUNDIAL, W.Va.– Just after dawn this morning, a community member noticed a torrent of murky, grayish water flowing from a drainage in to the Coal River. The drainage is located on the banks of the river adjacent to Massey Energy’s Goals Coal Processing Plant and across from the entrance to Marsh Fork Elementary School.
Drainage release in Sundial, WV-- Notice the color of the water flowing from the pipe on the left.
At 7:10 a.m., two volunteers photographed the spill and took a water sample several hundred feet down stream, at the nearest accessible location.
We encourage all concerned citizens to call this polluting drainage release in to the West Virginia DEP’s emergency hot line, reached at 1-800-642-3074. The operator will ask for your name, number, and the location of the spill (Sundial, Raleigh County, along WV-3 between Goals Coal Processing Plant and Marsh Fork Elementary).
When you guys are out taking pictures of these sites, you are not only targeting MTR you are targeting Underground mining as well as old mines that were around years ago, and you say you are for underground mining? It’s not looking like that to me!
And another thing I want to say, is why do you have to put out “ads” to do your summer camp? Don’t you have enough people here in WV to help you out or is it that you have to get the college kids to come in here, a group of young men and women who have been brainwashed?
Raychel, it doesn’t matter if it’s from underground mines, mountain top removal or old mines. If they are polluting our water then it is a problem. A HUGE PROBLEM. How can you be okay with this? And let me tell you another thing, there are plenty of people here in WV that are opposed to the destruction of our Earth. Many that live in the coal fields just have felt for so long they have no recourse but they are beginning to see that they can speak out and that is what they are doing. I had a young man from Boone County tell my daughter that he is “tired of this”. Said his mother collects antiques and has had several broken because their house shakes so hard when they blast. That is crazy. People should not have to live like that. I guess it just hasn’t directly affected you yet. It will though and maybe in the worst kind of way. When do people and life take precendence over money? Greed is one of the seven deadly sins.
May be so Em, but I believe that a man has to work for a living and if he doesn’t then he has denied the faith, so after this, don’t go shouting your “religious” crap at me. If you can’t get on here and talk to me without bring up religion then don’t point your comments at me directly, because I am not going to discuss religion on here with you or anyone anymore because it’s not where it should be. I have a man and a women(deceased) who leased their property to Argus Engery for the past ten or fifteen years now, and they have an A Frame home, this home was badly damaged by the blasting that went on down on the mine site but did you see them whinning and crying over it? No, they knew this would better their state and give me and women a job so they just left it alone. People are greedy, yes they are, they will try to suck Massey or Patriot for anything they can get off of them if so much of a glass jar breaks in their home.
My home has been damaged by Gas drilling, do you hear me trying to get rid of the Gas Companies no I haven’t. I am not like that, I believe everyone that wants to have anything in life has to work for it and has to have a job to do so. And it’s not greed when I can come home and after working all day and be able to pay my bills, besides Em if this didn’t go on, hospitals would be shut down, you guys would lose your job and so on, do I need to point out anymore?
I was over on Kelly Mountain, all over Gilbert, across Horsepen Mountain and I saw many and I do mean many of Surface Mining sites and Em, there were trees growing back on these mine sites, several animals we saw playing around and so on. You people claim that nothing can thrive on these sites after Surface Mining has went on but I beg to differ.
No I do not see things the way you do and I am fine with that, but rest assured I am going to do whatever I can to help keep these men and women in a job and if that does not sit well with you then that is fine. If that makes me a bad person in your eyes or whomever, I can live with it….Enough Said.
Oh yeah and as far as deadly sins….Killing is one of the biggest! And another one too while we are at it, YOU are to PROVIDE for your family….Do you understand what I am saying EM!
And I want to say something else. You people whine and cry over clean water. Not to long ago a boss at one of these mines in BOONE County, had a woman (ENVIRO) call him and said that the mine had damaged her yard due to whatever they were doing on the mine site at the time, well out of the goodness of this boss’ heart he went down and was planting grass seed back trying to help the women and low and behold, he looked and her SEWER was running straight out of the pipe into the creek, now if that don’t take the cake nothing else will.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm??????
Raychel :
Be careful. You are progressively getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I bet your husband is glad you have something to with your obsessive-compulsive disorder though.
Raychel if you really believe that if we lost the few jobs created by MTR that our whole state would shut down then you are living in a fantasy world. I mean come on are you really that gullible. ???
MountainWitch, I do have carpel tunnel but its from WORKING! Glad you have the time to get on here and run your mouth while sitting on your butt all day. Have a good one….
Let me go back and say MountainWitch, I do apolgize for my last comment. You may or may not work, I don’t know, but I do work and my husband works to provide a good life for our son. And while I am sitting here at my desk I realize that you all will never see things the way I do, and as I have stated before, it’s alright, not everyone agrees, I just believe that a person has to work and provide for their family and if men and women have to work at surface mining to do so then I have nothing wrong with that, but I do have a problem when people come in here and try to take their job from them and they begin to lose everything they have worked for, but as I also stated earlier I am going to do everything I can to help keep these men and women in a job. My hope is that they will be able to get their permit and that they will be able to provide a good life for their family and if that does not come through then, I can say I tried.
Em, you all need to figure out if your against MTR or coal in general! MTR employs thousands of people across the state! And there is nothing wrong with this water, naturally water gets discolored when it rains, that is why the creeks and rivers get discolored. If the shaking is that bad, then they need to contact the company doing the blasting and inform them. I live directly under and MTR site and I hear noise when they blast, but no shake. And I am under a mile away from the blasting.
As far as no wildlife or trees on reclaimed sites. That’s bullshit! If it was true then you would show it on here! I see animals all over the place on MTR reclaimed sites! I see trees, bushes, and everything else that you’d expect to see on a mountain up there. It is gonna take more than 2-3 years for a site to fully refurbish plant growth. Everyone one of you are “friends of coal” whether you know it or not! Met coal is used in the production of steel, it is a vital part of the coking process! And I am sure you all drive or use steel somehow. Maybe in your computer???? House???? Think about it, a life without coal is a boring life! So turn off your electricity and stop driving, make sure your not connected to coal then come back and talk to us! Till then, you should thank EVERY miner you see, whether he or she is underground, surface, coal preparation, handling, hauling, or whatever!
PS – YOUR WELCOME!!!
Must read report: Coal industry costs W.Va. state budget $97.5 million a year more than it generates
blogs.wvgazette.com – Coal Tatoo- Charleston Gazette
I personally wish all the damn black shit would be gone. OUr state and country and Earth would be better off.
Brushy, you just don’t get the big picture do you? That is okay. A wise person said once, “we should pity the ignorant.” So I will try to educate you. This is just one quote from many articles describing the process of “wrecklamation”. Of course we see that “something” is growing but the substance of that is not what the “maker” originally put there and the biodiversity is destroyed. Do you not feel any sadness is knowing that something that has been here for millions of years can be destroyed in a matter of hours just for a little money. ????
“As part of the reclamation process, coal companies typically just re-seed the flattened mountains. This often involves a process called hydroseeding, where sprayers coat exposed rock with a concoction of fertilizer, cellulose mulch, and seeds of non-native grasses. This can never adequately substitute for the diverse forest originally covering the land.
A big problem is that mountaintop removal mine sites experience extremely slow rates of recolonization by native plants and trees. This is because unlike other forms of industrial vegetation removal such as clear-cut logging, strip mining heavily removes topsoil. Enormous machines compact the fertile land that remains reducing the ability of native plants to grow in the area. Even if mining companies replace the topsoil stripped by the operation, the biological communities within the soil are no longer intact. Such disruption fundamentally alters the hydrologic regime of the soil greatly impeding growth.” -http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-perks/mountaintop-removal-fail_b_268718.html
I know any evidence we produce will be futile as you destructionists refuse to think outside the box and see the big picture. But hey I’ll keep trying and little by little we are going to win this war.
Em, your last sentence is how we feel also, everything we say you will refuse to hear or see, so as I have said no everyone agrees.
As for the coal tatoo sight that is a communist site,it doesn’t want to see “both” sides of the story, both my brotherinlaw (WVCA) and I have posted on there and as of right now they haven’t let our post through but good ole Mike Roselle’s went through so we see who is running that site. And of course you are gonna post that article on here.
“As for the coal tatoo sight that is a communist site,it doesn’t want to see “both” sides of the story, both my brotherinlaw (WVCA) and I have posted on there and as of right now they haven’t let our post through ”
see definition of paranoid below:
paranoid [?pær??n??d]
adj
1. (Psychiatry) of, characterized by, or resembling paranoia
2. (Psychiatry) Informal exhibiting undue suspicion, fear of persecution, etc.
n
(Psychiatry) a person who shows the behaviour patterns associated with paranoia
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
I’m just sayin………
Coal tattoo and huffington post, both websites ran by treehuggers. And hydroseeding, for your information, is used to keep the soil from eroding until mother nature takes back the site. Just like after a forest fire, it grows back! But you can never show the aftergrowth on here because folks would find out that MTR isn’t as bad as you all make it out to be! BTW, have you ever seen a reclaimed mine site in real life??? And I’m not talking about on Kayford Mountain where active mining is still taking place, but a REAL completely reclaimed mine site where no mining at all is taking place??? You would never know it was an MTR site unless you knew about it beforehand!
Maybe YOU could not tell it was an MTR site but anyone that knows about the idigenous plants of the Appalachian mountains can tell in a minute. Yes, I’ve seen them and they DO NOT look natural. Yes, mother nature usually will return the natural vegetation but it took millions of years for these forests to become as diverse as they are and it will take a million more to go back to that and most scientists agree they will never totally be the same. Still not convinced and probably never will be not to mention that out of all the “reclaimed” sites only a very small percentage are actually being used for the “commercial” uses it was promised they would be. So don’t use that argument either.
LOL, Yeah EM, ok! Where did you see one at, if you don’t mind me asking? And FYI, the last “ice age” was only 18,000 years ago, so it didn’t take a million years for the appalachians to become so “diverse.” Next time you try to be a dick, get your facts straight.
Better watch Em, you might find someone following behind you at work today….And by the way our post was “posted” in the archives, now who goes back and reads that stuff in the archieves.
anyone can drag and drop EM!
Brush, well I’ve seen a few…for one and I’m mentioning this one because it has been used as a “commercial” sight…that god awful mess of a golf course in mingo county…so tell me that looks natural and like it did when the mountain is there…and there is one that borders boone and lincoln county…not sure of names so much but it looks like a damn mess….yes, there is some grass and pitiful looking trees but it looks nothing like the mountains that were there before…
Oh and Raychel once again I don’t get what you’re trying to say???? You have a very odd way expressing yourself.
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, anyone that knows me, knows that I express myself in a way that when I am finished they know what I meant and they know they don’t have to go back and try it again.
I was at CAMC yesterday and some man that lived up near Summersville, made the statement that, “oh he isn’t against coal mining, it’s just the surface mining he is against”. He later went on to say that, “if strip mining didn’t end, our state would look like Ohio”. Now if I am not mistaken, when we go UP onto these mine sites you have to go UP a hill/mountain? And pretty much all of Ohio is FLAT! Now also, another statement I made was all of Ohio is flat and when reclaimation is going on the mountain is still there, it’s being reclaimed and things will start to go back. After I “expressed” myself and told him just exactly what I stated on here, he shut his mouth and never said another word, matter of fact he then started discussing WVU basketball and football with me. It’s funny how people can say all they want behind a computer screen, in emails, lettering or on radio but when confronted face to face they either shut up right then and there or they immediatley change the topic? I expressed myself very well EM and if you were in on the conversation you would have seen so first hand. Have a wonderful day…
Twisted Gun Golf Course, and I was just there about two maybe three weeks ago and I didn’t see a pittiful mess, matter of fact I seen men riding around with big smiles on their face and that didn’t look pittiful to me, I think I did see men from out of state there enjoying Twisted Gun and they didn’t seem to mind that they were playing on a golf course that was once a mine site, now let me ask, if this is so pittiful then why do they let this proceed to be a golf course, why do they let these sites become schools, youth complex’s and so on?
And the one on the Lincoln/Boone Line I believe that might be Water Ways, that is a place where alot of kids enjoy going each summer to swim and have a good time with their families, are you so bitter that you don’t want our state to have things that a family can go to enjoy and be together? I want my family to be able to go to these places and have fun together, I want our state to be able to welcome out of staters and offer them something to see and do and not be the state that comes in first place for “the most boring state” I want us to be able to rise out of the poverty state and in order to do this we need to have jobs and these places offer jobs.
The Greenbrier is welcomingHollywood Actors, Country singers, Rock singers and I just wonder if they know they are coming to this place a place that is run and owned by a former mine owner and operator? This place is a well known place for tourism and it’s a place were good ole Obama came too if I am not mistaken, kids take field trips to this place to learn it’s history and culture so I am one that welcomes this and if you don’t then sorry that you just go to work and come home.
I want to be able to live in a state that has something for a family to do and enjoy, I do not like to sit at my house all the time, my family likes to get out and enjoy ourselves! Sorry if you don’t do so. Have a good one!
Now I am gonna get back to work. Enjoy your day!
Raychel, I would guess that the man chose to be quiet because he could assess right away that he was dealing with a low educated person and that anything of substance that he offered would not be understood by you. I doubt very seriously he was intimidated by you at all. I really don’t even know why I bother but I guess it’s a challenge to me. If you and your family like getting out and doing activities then why don’t you try hiking the mountains in their natural state….oh wait that might take some energy. Laying around the pool, riding around on a quad or riding around in a golf cart doesn’t really appeal to me. I love nature and being at one with the Earth as much as possible. But I do see lots of WV “fat families” that can’t get up and move so I guess that would be their only options. Really sad the shape that people are in.
For your information, I do hike in our mountains here, did my share in Tennessee in the Great Smokey mountains until they got that idoit down there, so I don’t go there.
I will tell you this, he shut his mouth when I told him where I stood and I guarantee you this one thing, I didn’t care if he felt intimidated by me or not, I just told him. If you were face to face with me, I would tell you the same thing and you can say whatever you want back to me because peronally it doesn’t matter, I am going to do whatever I can to help these men and women keep their jobs.
I walk everyday up and down the farm where I live and it’s not my problem if people wants to be at the weight they are at.
People do have a life and they enjoy it by doing other things and if they want to play golf or swim thats up to them not you to pass your idoit comments. Too not everyone lowers themselves down like you did by stating that you made love in the mountains, I mean who would want to be out hiking and see the likes of that? That would give them every reason not to hike in the mountains after seeing that! I mean come on you should have had alittle decency for yourself, in what people are calling that kind of behavior these days would classify you as a whore! Oopps I need not be acting that way I am not going to lower myself down to the standards that you have did by stating you loathe the coal miner, you wish starvation or a disease on anyone involved in coal mining, you are really showing who you are and that’s sad EM, when you get so bitter that you have to act in the manner that you have I would think about committing myself.
You should feel ashamed of yourself for making this half wit comment (above), your from what I take it an educated person do you have to act in the manner of a 2nd grader?
As for the educated comment of me being low-educated, I am a graduate from high school, college and a graduate of Pittsburgh Mortuary and Science. Just because I don’t see things the way you do and I do state the facts on here you have to lower yourself to the standards of name calling. You might need to watch before you make those comments. Don’t be so quick to judge!
Oh for heaven’s sake Raychel, take off your chastity belt and give it a try. I bet your husband would appreciate it……..or not????
Raychel, do you ever wonder why they have to get these out of state college kids to come in here and protest since there are SOOOO many people here against coal??? I’ve often wondered this. Can you shed any light on this subject em??? I asked a couple on Kayford Mountain a few years back and they told me that they didn’t give a damn about WV or mountains, they just wanted their college credit for a certain course they where taking.
And WTF does being a “fat family” have to do with anything we are talking about? Lemme guess, coal makes people fat, correct? That’s right, blame it on coal! Or are you saying that all “coal” families are fat??? Trying to sterotype us??? If so, then I have come to the assumption that ALL treehuggers are stinky, matted hair dumb fucks. But I’m not here to sterotype anyone!!!
Have a nice day EM, and enjoy your electricity and vehicle, both which use coal to make.
Brushy, just in my circle of West Virginians those opposed….my husband, my daughter, my son, his wife, my father, my mother, by brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, three of my neighbors …my daughter’s friend in Ashford and his family, my cousin that lives in Costa and his wife….you know I could go on but that is just my little circle. All from WV all taking part in some type of protest. Whether it is writing congressmen, going to Washington to lobby in congress, writing letters to newspapers, etc….we’re all involved in ending MTR. No we have not done any civil disobedience. Some of the these kids choose to do this and that is wonderful. Other’s donate money for their legal funds, donate food, etc. We all play a part. It is like a well built machine…every part is important to the overall success. I do give the folks at CGZ KUDDOS because they put more on the line than we do right now. We are going to win and I think you are seeing the progress we’re making and it scares the hell out of you.
I tell ya what EM, you all might be beating us right now with the stuff that is going on, but WE ARE getting organized! The NWP21 permit bullshit will not stand in a courtroom because it is discrimination against the 5 states that are banned from using the process. You all ARE NOT gonna win in the end! Obama isn’t gonna stop the mining in Illinios, which is surface mining, so if he doesn’t stop it there, he aint gonna stop is here. It is either all or nothing and they haven’t gotten anything to replace coal yet.
Ya still didn’t answer my question of why you all have to get people from other states in here to do most of the protesting if there are so many West Virginians against it??? Granted, yes there are a few, but most come from other states and have no idea WTF is going on. If you and your family are so against MTR, why don’t you all climb a tree and sit for a week or two???
Brushy, I think you will see that you are going to be mistaken about that. One of the reasons it is different here is that the mining companies are just dumping all that waste in the valleys covering streams, etc. Not many valleys in the “flatlands” to dump it in and the streams are not being disturbed to the extent they are in Appalachia. So I guess we will see. The EPA is here to protect the environment not jobs. So if they stop Mountain Top Removal as it is being done now they will be doing their jobs.
First off, the “streams” that are getting covered are only active when we have a huge amount of rainfall. Second, it isn’t like we fill the entire valley from one end to the other like you all portray we do. It is merely the “head” of the valley, so the water still flows out when it rains, just off the face of the fill and then out to the original valley. Third, not all of the material is dumped in a valley fill, gotta have some to recontour the mountaintop.
It is the same type of mining except they dig down and put the fill to the side, kinda what your getting ready to see in appalachia. Mining is mining, even if you all do try to spruce up the UMWA’s mining to make it seem spotless when you all talk about it. I actually think that is why this battle is going on, because most of Massey Energy isn’t union. I know that is why we catch alot of shit.
And if they really want to enforce the clean water act, good luck getting permits for new roads, houses, shopping areas, etc. Everything we do in our everyday lives affect the environment. What about the clean air act??? If they were to enforce that then no one would be driving or enjoying anything, anywhere!
PS….. You still didn’t answer my question as to why you have to have so many out of staters come in to support your cause if there are soooooooo many people against coal and MTR here in WV?????
I can’t speak for others Brushy but I choose not to “sit in a tree” at the moment because I just don’t want to right now. I feel I can be more use, so to speak, with me contributing my time in other ways. I feel my contributions are just as important as the direct action. But who knows what will happen in the future. I would love to chain myself to a dozer.
We all choose different ways of fighting. Many that live right in the mess choose not to speak out publicly because they feel intimated by neanderthals shouting death threats and such. And silly as it might seem they feel afraid for their lives and property. So people without the family connection have decided to step in and do the direct action for us. Which I’m very grateful to. Don’t think me, my sister, my daughter and my mother have not discussed it. We think that might make a pretty good news story for three generations of local women to protest. Never know….it might just happen.
Em, is it waste or is it use? You confuse me.
Whatcha waitin for EM, dozers are plentiful around! I can answer your questions for the out of state college kids….. College credits and tuition help, that’s all they care about! Oh yeah, and the drugs!
Take a look at the Appalachia Rising : call to action post on this site.sad,sad, same old tired faces. That the local support you’r talking about E M? Oh btw, better be carful how you dispose of the remnants left over from you’re veggie diesel production. I hear the EPA is set to really crack down such things.