It is coming up on a year and a half now that I have been blogging about mountaintop removal coal mining. In that length of time I have yet to have the first decent argument in favor of mountaintop removal coal mining on this blog. Although I have had plenty from friends of coal concerning my intelligence or lack there of. Instead of telling me how dumb I am – how about proving me wrong. I’d like to see if there is really something between a friend of coal’s ears besides a vacuum.
The only arguments I have gotten that are anywhere near substantial were from people sending me to coal industry websites to support their argument. In other words, these people can’t think for themselves. They have no game. If I were to hear an original argument in favor of mountaintop removal coal mining, I’m sure it would cause me to go into cardiac arrest.
Without fail, proponents of MTR will turn the discussion away from mountaintop removal coal mining and make it an argument about coal or the economy. The reason they do that is because it makes it look like people like me are trying to destroy our entire energy grid/economy when in reality I just want you to stop blowing up the damn mountains. To me, the reason for the destruction is irrelevant. I wouldn’t care if you were mining earthworms. I don’t know how to make it any clearer.
If you come to this blog expecting to have an intelligent conversation concerning mountaintop removal, leave the coal and the economy at home. I don’t want to hear it. There is not one person who can say mountaintop removal provides more jobs than underground mining, so any arguments in the economy category are a waste of time from the start.
As far as the coal aspect, I will not be wrangled into an argument about coal. The only reason coal comes into my conversation is because right at the moment they are not mining earthworms. However, there are a lot of negative aspects to coal and just one of those happens to be mountaintop removal.
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1) Why is it now so important to do mountaintop removal coal mining when we have mined coal for a century or so going underground to get it?
It is only important in that it is efficient and economical to the coal industry. I’m sure people would say it is safer than underground mining but this is untrue. “We put a man on the moon…” you cannot tell me we cannot make underground coal mining safe. If you think underground coal mining is unsafe then basically that means you knowingly sent/continue to send coal miners into an unsafe environment… ??
Industry claims mountaintop removal is the only way to get the thin seams of coal near the surface yet they also claim we have 200-250 years of coal reserves in the state. Sorry, but something here just doesn’t add up. There is no logic in those two claims residing in the same time frame. What I mean is, why would you worry about the thin seams near the top before you got to the point where you were running out of reserves? IF we have 200-250 years of reserves then the justification that mountaintop removal is the only way to get otherwise irretrievable coal… it just makes no sense to me. If both statements are true, at the rate we are going, I’d hate to see the mountains in 200 years.
2) Is the loss of the residents quality of life, along with the loss of an entire ecosystem, worth the cheap energy provided by mountaintop removal coal mining?
Any sacrifice for coal, no matter how small, raises the cost of cheap energy.
Not even one person should have to pay/suffer for the comfort of millions.
3) How can you promote mountaintop removal for the flat land it creates when you don’t have any infrastructure whatsoever to support any kind of development on that flat land?
You don’t want to pay higher electric bills but you are willing to pay the millions of dollars in taxes it will/would take to install infrastructure that would be needed for any development on just one site? I wish someone would explain the logic behind this. I think the true logic lies hidden. The fact of the matter is there will never be any need for the taxes because most of these sites will sit ready for future development (reclaimed) from now on. Claiming future development of reclaimed sites or the need for flat land in The Mountain State as a way of promoting mountaintop removal is preposterous to put it mildly.
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I wonder if I should start drawing pictures with my posts in case any 3rd graders come to the blog… you know, job hunting?? LOL!!! Too funny…
BRAVO!
Denny say
actually, there are lots of people who can say that.
They just lie when they say it.
and that doesn’t stop them. anyone who says that to you is stupid ignorant or wicked. those are not mutually exclusive categories either.
Denny as much as I’d like to see you have a battle of wits with an honest representative of the anti-mountains movement, it won’t happen.
First of all there aren’t any honest ones that have any wits about them.
And the ones with wits are the ones invested in it, and they don’t do battles with citizens they pay off politicians. So you will not catch those folks engaging in democratic dialogue with residents and stakeholders. They are only interested in representatives and shareholders.
Here is to you, and here is to chanterelles and two colored boletes. They’ll be popping up soon, in places that haven’t been destroyed by MTR!
not one person should suffer for the comfort of millions. tell that to the native americans that this hunting land was hundreds of years ago. millions now are living in comfort because of coal. there will be a change but to give coal up now deep mined or mtr is not going to happen coal will be mine until nuclear power takes over then you can complain about that. wind power and solar is not going to support this nations consumption of electrical power it will only provide a drop in the bucket. lets mtr then put wind mills on the recaimed land the wind still blows on mtrs if it did,nt all that dust you complain about is just another green lie from a tree hugger
Tom although your comment is garbage – I would like for you to point out the post on this blog where I complain about dust.
Imagine, one West Virginian calling another a treehugger and both live in the mountain state. I guess that would make you a coalhugger… Tom.