This past weekend, my wife and I attended her family reunion in Wyoming County.  We decided to drive down through Boone County rather than going by interstate since we weren’t in a terrible rush.  It had been a few months since we had been through Boone County and I must say, things have changed…and not for the better. 

One of the most stark changes was on the ridges around the little towns of Bim & Bob White.  I remember the last time we drove through there, there were these two little mountain peaks that were both about the same size and they loomed rather impressively over the town of Bob White.  Well on this trip, I looked for the mountain peaks but there was only one of them…that’s right, one of them had been destroyed and in its place was a little flat, barren spot and wide-open sky.  Being who I am I looked at the creek below there and just on visual inspection, it looks horrible.  The last time we drove down through here, we saw people fishing in the creek, I doubt that there is any fish alive in this creek now.  As we drove on up around the bend, we saw a huge MTR site in full operation, I’ve no doubt it is only a matter of time before the 2nd little mountain peak is laid low.

What impresses me the most is the people who live in Bim & Bob White are able to continue to live their daily lives there, I don’t know that I could live that close to all that crap, knowing what goes on there and the dangers their operations posed to me, and also knowing full well that your government doesn’t care what you think.  I applaud them for standing and fighting for their homes, it definitely takes a special kind of person to be able to do that.

I was really shocked to see how quickly a mountain can be destroyed.  I was aware that MTR activities had increased over the past few months but I suppose I didn’t fully understand the extent of the greed of man when coal is $120 a ton.

On the way back to Charleston, we decided to drive down through Coal River to see all of the changes that were sure to have happened there. We had hoped we’d see Pauline and Mary out in their yards so we could stop and see them again, but we didn’t see any sign of them when we went through Sylvester.  It had been a couple of years since we traveled that road, and I’ll just say this, if a person wants to see the real costs of MTR, just take a drive through Boone County, WV. 

I can’t believe that we, as a society, continue to allow this to occur!

Okay, I know the fastest way to piss people off is to talk about religion or politics.  However, as they say, it’s better to be pissed off than pissed on, so just bear with me during my political rant.

Let me preface this post with saying that I’m not yet sure who I am supporting for president.  My issue is not race, religion or gender (as the mainstream media would have you believe), in fact, the main issue for me in choosing a President is which one will most likely promote legislation that will end MTR.  It seems whomever I start to lean toward they do, or say, something stupid which makes me rethink my decision. 

I really liked John Edwards but we all know where that went.

Hillary says there’s got to be a middle ground between the environmental costs of MTR and the economic benefits derived thereof.  She promotes green energy, (i.e. solar panels in the Great Basin, Wind Farms in TX and on the coast, Hydrogen fuel cells) but she also says Clean Coal is green. There’s nothing clean about coal, and there is no middle ground between the environment and economics of MTR.

McCain says he is against MTR and “will work to end the destruction of the mountains”.  But he is for continuing the war, which I see as counterproductive to ending MTR.  Also, he introduced a bill in 2005 to depopulate the Black Mesa region in the American southwest so the coal strip mine there could expand.  In my mind, I wonder if he would try a similar bill for the coalfields of Appalachia, after all, it could be twisted to sound like it would be in the national interest to do so.

Obama says he will protect America’s waterways, and states that the EPA under his administration will fully enforce the Clean Water Act. Earlier in his campaign he was against MTR but has since backslid and now promotes Clean Coal Technology.  I’m still haunted by his remarks “Miners in West Virginia need work”. Also, Obama introduced the “Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007″ to the Senate.  We all know that Coal to liquids is code for more MTR.  Promoting Clean Coal Technology and Coal-to-liquids seems to me to the exact opposite of ending MTR.   Sounds like he is trying to play both sides of the fence here.  Of course, they all are! 

So who do I vote for?  Who best represents my interests? 

It seems to me that the only question left to ask is “Can I vote for none of the above?”.