The Price of Energy: Coal Mining
For Dorothy Taulbee, 69, a coal community in the valleys of southwestern Virginia called Stonega was home. “It was a nice place up there,” said Taulbee. “I had just redone my home thinking I was going to live there the rest of my days.”
But Taulbee’s days in the Wise County community were numbered. The expansion of strip mining forced her to leave the place she had lived for 26 years. “Twenty-six years and the last five were like hell on earth,” Taulbee said. “They laughed at us, made all kinds of fun of us. Three trains and coal trucks day and night. They were even running on Sundays. We wouldn’t get no rest at all,”
Taulbee left Stonega and moved to Giles County, Va., to escape the burdens of living near the coal plants. But in southwestern Virginia, the presence of the industry is pervasive. Dominion Virginia Power later announced it was planning to break ground on a new coal-fired power plant eight miles from Taulbee’s new home. Strip mining would feed the proposed plant, and Dominion plans to use local coal.
The mining and the power plant also would feed the region’s growing demand for electricity and, say area residents, provide jobs that their communities desperately need. But there is a price.
Taulbee says the coal companies have destroyed her community and adding another power plant will contribute to the destruction. “It’s like they have no regard for other people,” she said.
Taulbee’s story is like the story of hundreds of other coal mining families in Southern Appalachia. “I understand that everything in our life changes,” said Pete Ramey, vice president of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, an environmental group based out of Wise County. “But does it have to change like this?”
However, other community members are in favor of an additional power plant being built.
In St. Paul, also in Wise County, one fifth of the population is below the poverty line. Here, almost any source of income is welcome.
“This power plant will be a big boost for the economy,” says William J. Kiser, mayor of St. Paul. “It is a permanent source of jobs for many people in the area. It will provide 800 construction jobs, 75 permanent jobs at the power plant, as well as secretarial positions. It will enable us to give money back to the town and the people who live here.”
A small but vocal group of area residents are concerned that Dominion Power is deceiving the community and taking advantage of people who are desperate for employment. They say the jobs won’t benefit the community.
The 800 construction jobs would provide employment for only four years, and the 75 other jobs will be for skilled labor, so they won’t be local either, said Hannah Morgan, a representative of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
Local activists are supported by an increasing number of student-led university environmental groups, music ensembles, and community organizations.
Marley Green is active in the JMU Earth club and an organizer of the Virginia Climate Environmental Action Network, a student environmental group with affiliates at seven Virginia colleges.
“People everywhere have a responsibility to stand with the people of Wise County who can’t always speak out because of their situation and the dependency on coal in that area,” Green said. “We need to work with them in their effort to stop the destruction of their land.”
Some environmentalists are using different techniques to get the word out. “Here’s to the Long Haul,” a three-person musical group, travels on the East Coast spreading awareness about what is going on in Wise County.
“The people of Appalachia are facing economic devastation and having their land taken away. Playing music gives off energy and emotional support to fuel people to keep fighting,” said Rebekah Ainsworth, a member of the band.
“(The power companies) are destroying the culture of Appalachia,” said Morgan.
In April, Dominion Virginia Power plans to break ground in the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Wise County Virginia. The plant would generate 650 megawatts of power and consume up to 800,000 gallons of fresh water daily from the Clinch River.
Coal-burning power plants are also a major source of air pollution. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average coal-fired power plant produces 2,249 pounds of carbon dioxide, 13 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and six pounds of nitrogen oxides for each megawatt hour of electricity.
Carbon dioxide is thought by many scientists to be a major contributor to global warming. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain. Nitrogen oxides react with sunlight to form ozone. Power plants also emit tiny ash particles, which can cause health problems when inhaled, and mercury, which can impair brain development.
The plant would also add an additional 400 to 800 coal trucks a day, or one coal truck running through the small town roads every 1.8 to 3.6 minutes, according to Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
Dominion Power, however, sees the new plant as necessary to provide electricity for the growing population in Virginia and as a benefit to people who live near it.
“The facility will provide an additional electricity supply for Virginia which is growing dramatically every day. The facility will create hundreds of construction jobs, operations jobs, and contribute to the local tax base and economy,’’ said David Botkins, media relations manager for Dominion Virginia in an e-mailed statement. “There will be numerous economic spin-off benefits. Community leaders support the facility across the board.”
Phil Smith, communications director of the United Mine Workers Association, is in favor of a possible source of income for coal miners.
“We want to make sure our members have jobs in a responsible way,” Smith said. “From everything I’ve heard, this coal plant will do that. It will provide jobs for coal miners and other people in the community. We represent coal miners, that’s something we’re concerned about, and we want to make sure those people have a continuous source of employment. The coal plant would continue to provide an economic engine into the community.”
Local opposition is currently focusing on telling community members and outsiders about the devastation to their community. A group of activists is currently traveling up and down the East Coast, giving presentations at all the Universities that will listen. “We can do something about this,” said Sage Russo, a representative from Christians for the Mountains, “It is only a devastating action if we don’t act. We can’t afford to not act.”
The program includes a slide show about the social and environmental impacts of mountaintop removal in Wise County, as well as traditional Appalachian mountain music. “This is more than mountain top removal,” said Morgan, who is also a member of the road show, “This is community removal.”
On a more local level for Wise County, members of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards plan to hold an informative community meeting at Appalachia High School in Appalachia, Va in an effort to get more residents of Wise County involved.
Some JMU students stand with them. On Oct. 25, EARTH club held a music concert called Hallowgreen. The club rose $300 in one night, and all the money went to SAMS to cover the cost of renting out the high school auditorium for the community meeting, said Green. Additionally, the club has set a final goal to get 6,000 petitions signed against the building of the new power plant in Wise County by January 8.
“A lot of the externalities of our energy consumption is hidden,” said Mel Cronin, a member of EARTH club and the Virginia Climate Environmental Action Network, “but when you can travel 5 hours south of your home and see people in communities and the surrounding environment completely devastated, you can’t help but want to do something about it. We as JMU students have some of the best resources to help these people out. ”
Community members welcome the support from the outside, says Kathy Selvage, vice president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
“When we talk about Wise County, we need all kinds of people in the conversation,” Selvage said. “Part of this is about the image of the people. I want us to appear as good and decent people and I want us to be respected. The mountains shouldn’t be annihilated and we shouldn’t be treated as dumb hillbillies.”
Selvage added that her fight is not about one group or one person, it is about “us as a society.”
“I wish I had the money to buy these mountains,” said Taulbee. “The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. After they destroy all the mountains, then what are they going to do?”