This story is actually a week or so old, until today I couldn’t decide what I wanted to say about it.

Massey Energy CEO, Don Blankenship, recently told Wall Street analysts he intends to open a new mine every 17 days this year. He said the biggest problem would be finding the 300 to 400 miners since the operations are scattered throughout the coalfields. He also said they had all the permits and the equipment necessary for the ambitious expansion.

Being a person dead set against mountaintop removal coal mining - this story sounds all kinds of warning bells. The main one being since Massey is in the business of removing mountains - I see big trouble looming for the tops of a lot of mountains.

There are a couple of signs in Blankenship’s announcement that a lot of the expansion is in the mountaintop removal sector. The statement he made about only needing 300 to 400 miners. If the new operations were deep mines - he would go through that quota after just 2 to 3 new mines. Another sign - I have worked extensively in the coal fields as an electrician and you can believe there is absolutely no way to open a new deep mine every 17 days. It takes usually about 3 months to install all of the supporting equipment for a deep mine. You have to have belt lines and if the mine is not located right at a prep plant then you either have to install overland belt systems from inside the mine to a prep plant or you have to build a silo with a stockpile on-site. On top of that, the type of machinery used in a deep mine lay outside of Walker Machinery’s specialty. I’m quite sure when Blankenship says he has all the equipment needed, he is talking about bulldozers, draglines, and dump trucks.

I believe the expansion is a sign of the future. Not that mountaintop removal will keep going but that King Coal is beginning to realize that coal is on it’s way out. Maybe not because of mountaintop removal but definitely because of coal’s contribution to global warming. It is being talked about around the globe. If you need proof - visit the forum. King Coal may have a few people under his thumb and unable to wiggle around but there is nothing he can do about the global warming debate.

Of course Massey plans an ambitious expansion. They are going to get just as much of the coal as they possibly can while they can. What is the best way for them to do it? Mountaintop removal coal mining.

I have a few questions. Who is going to be left to clean up King Coal’s mad dash through the Appalachia’s? What about all these sludge ponds? Do you think the coal industry will come back to keep an eye on them? Do you think the WVDEP will do it? What about all the reclaimed sites? Do you think West Virginia will build a highway system connecting them to sustainable traffic? If they don’t - what good are these sites in terms of economic value?

If anything is done to clean up the mess - the bill will belong to the taxpayers. Since it is taxpayers that continually vote against our mountains and our heritage, I imagine the damage from MTR will linger for years to come.

The sludge ponds will not be maintained by anybody and will most likely be a source of concern, again - for years to come.

To even consider these reclaimed sites as candidates for future development is just simply ridiculous. Right now with all the money pouring into some pockets from coal, people in this state are fighting for a water system. The state doesn’t want to foot the bill. In ten years when the coal industry has moved out, we will have all these reclaimed sites for future development. There is no way to even consider that as a viable notion unless you were totally committed to a highway renovation project specifically designed to target secluded reclaimed mountains. If we can’t get something as simple as a water system now, with all the money coming in - how do you think we intend to build a highway system once the money has stopped coming in? A highway system will never happen. These sites will sit ready for future development from now on.

I think a better headline for Blankenship’s exciting news would be this -

Massey Energy Intends To Create More Problems - Every 17 Days