Wilson Creek, KY: Communities come together for a better future

[reyhighet]

great one.

[fmlytracer]

I have a question. Did you fight just as hard to stop the removal of mountain tops and valley fills when they were widening the highways? I seem to remember US 23 as a winding 2 lane road, I believe 460 is being widened at this point. Where is all the fight for this. Could it be becasue YOU want the roads and to hell with the mountains and streams? Now if you are serious and want to stop the mountain top removals and the valley fills you should be fighting ALL removals and fills.

[ralpandcarter]

I grew up in E. KY and I mine coal like my granddad, dad and all my uncles, underground. Yes underground mining takes a toll on the land and people, but it does cause far less scares on the outside. More jobs are created with underground mining than mountain top mining.

It all goes back to the song Which Side are You On.

[jonesboys221]

I'm a drafter and let me say it like this. If they land owner signs and WE have the LEASE then by hell we are gonna mine it! Things like this is why the "tree huggers" have put us on the "soup line". The tree aren't pushed with a dozer over the hell. they are cut down and drug to what is called the "windrow area". GEEZ!! People be informed before judging! If the land owner signs then it's HIS DECISION!! GEEZ! Even worked with Miller Bros permit.

[bluegrassman776]

i love my kentucky , i wish strip mining and drugs hadn't taken it from me. love and peace forever .lord jesus help us all.

[ky1scott]

your wrong about deep mining it? you can not deep mine the coal. the coal seams the surface mines mine are anywhere from 3 inches to 30. the lowest seam a deep mine can mine are 28 inches.

Not to mention. The rules have changed. all the damage we now see are from mines years ago that wasnt aware of the damage they caused. by the way mountain tops are useless the way they are. Deer wont even inhabit them, cant build, not any grazing areas. i will soon post a video.

[eastwood203]

Your right about efficient mining techniques for the size of a coal seam. Your Wrong about the value/cost of Mountain Top Removal. In exchange for poisoning our headwaters, losing tons of topsoil, turning our mountains into an immense wasteland we get less than 4% of our coal for electricity. Not worth it in my opinion.

[eastwood203]

Dig coal like a man -- mine it, not Mountaintop Removal. Don't destroy our communities. Don't put miners out of work. Don't level our ancient and beautiful mountains.

[jeremyp808]

i love the mountains of eastern ky but i also enjoy the life that stripping those mountains provide for me and my family! these people need to look at how many familys coal mining support.

[eastwood203]

Mountain Top Removal has put more miners out of work than any other factor. It requires far less labor and much less skill than traditional mining techniques. It results in massively more damage.

[intelogic]

Great! Everyone needs to know the truth. This type of mining does not employ the local folks...dozers and heavy equipment ruin the beautiful mountains! There are too many other ways to get our energy and put people to work. Come on you doubters...open your eyes!

[fmlytracer]

@intelogic

I'm sorry, I didn't realize that they had remote control dozers and loaders now. I thought they actually required employees to run them.

[ky1scott]

What a joke. I'm from maytown. I don't live there now but my whole family does. Coal is the life of east ky and southern wv. I don't see how it can be argued. It's the only cash crop. These people don't understand that if mining ended e ky would starve. Every thing would close even the schools. Resturants, stores, there beloved fire dept. would even get the nice grants they have been getting cut off. They just don't realize that coal is the only income there.

[SpikeEvolution]

Your argument is one of the oldest arguments of humankind..

"But that's the way things are"

they only change when people decide for it to change.

"They just don't realize that coal is the only income there." Why? There are a ton of smart, active people in Kentucky and West Virginia...

The only inevitable thing is change...

[bdr8y]

Tell all this to the people in Martin County who a few years ago had to dig their houses out of sludge when the sludge pond damn burst. Or the people whose family members were killed when a boulder was shoved over the hill into their house. I would argue that coal isn't keeping east KY alive but that it is actually slowly killing it. I think the people who dont give a shit about the land should be the ones to leave.

[missylynn41653]

when your turning your lights on in your house, your not pissed about that...hum!!!

[SpikeEvolution]

Lots of people are using nuclear, solar, wave, and geothermal power... tell that to those people.

[alchea]

my electricity is generated by low-impact hydro and wind, and it barely costs anything more (3 cents) than coal-generated power. i get it from the grid like 'regular' electricity and it works fine. it's generated in my own state. there are places all over the country where people are getting this, and it'd work in ky (where i grew up) and wv, too.

[reversecraze]

Wow. If you don't like the cutting of the mountains MOVE, and stop complaining, because thats how they get coal...and coal is the only thing keeping eastern Kentucky alive. And I totally Agree with Ky worker. && Have you ever been on the top of the mountain after they cut it? I have and All the plants and stuff grow back and actually there's alot of Wildlife on them. So quit being a baby. If you don't like it MOVE. Im really getting sick of all this.

[FluxRostrum]

that's how pussys get coal.

you want coal dig it out a cave like a man instead of endangering every man, woman & child in your community.

[kyworker]

I guess if u are a stripminner you are already guilty but strip minning is not all bad for one thing its keeps your lights on and keeps food on the table for the most people in eastern ky. my god people we live in the hills should be use to a little dust and mud we growed up in it never here how some of them on here complaining sure took the money and sign the lease but i forgot the complainers on here dont work all they got to do is complain so come on quit picking on strip mines grow up