I had the opportunity to visit Kayford Mountain yesterday. Unfortunately it was extremely foggy and the pictures I have only give an indication of the destruction hidden under a blanket of fog.

Although I didn’t get to see the mountaintop removal going on around Larry’s place I did get to listen to him talk to college students for a couple of hours. The difference between myself and the students - I know what is hidden beneath the fog. At one point in Larry’s monologue, the coal company let off a blast that shook the ground and everything in the little cabin we were in.

It is hard to listen to Larry and not feel the loss Larry and his family have endured. There are multiple camps on the mountain and as we drove past one camper my escort pointed out bullet holes in the camper from miners afraid for their job. I wonder how afraid that same miner would have been had he hit someone. His job would no longer be an issue.

At one point Larry looks at me and wants to know my story. At a meeting concerning mountaintop removal when someone asks for your story they want to know how mountaintop removal has affected you. Usually it takes a direct connection for a person to get involved and stand up to the coal company. With myself that is not the case. Besides the coal company now blowing up Bolt Mountain I have no direct connection. I got involved because of the wrongness of it all. I got involved because a coal company is running and ruining this state. I got involved because of propaganda commercials aimed at the mentality of a child - intended for adults. I got involved because of communities who are at this very minute fighting for their right to have clean water. Fighting for water in the 21st century. That is just wrong on so many different levels.

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It seems like even authoring two blogs it is hard to get people to care about the people in these mountains. I think that is sad and definitely gives a strong indication of how civilized we really are. I actually thought when I started blogging about mountaintop removal it was so obviously wrong I wouldn’t have to do much talking. Sometimes, even I am a fool. I will continue to be a fool if that is what it takes and if I lose all of my readers - so be it. I may not be able to get the civilized world fired up but one thing is for sure - I will die trying.

This post has been edited since posting.