Coal River Mountain, WV: Coal River Wind Project

America's Most Endangered Mountains - Coal River Mountain, WV

Pledge to Help End Mountaintop Removal. Visit:
www.iLoveMountains.org


- - - COMMUNITY STORY - - -

"We don't live where they mine coal. They mine coal where we live.... Our concern today is our homes, our environment, and the sustainability of the environment."

Lorelei Scarbro's house in the little community of Rock Creek, West Virginia is the same house her husband built with his own two hands when they were married, on land handed down to him from his parents. They raised their children in this house. Lorelei watches the deer in the field below, enjoys a fresh mountain stream running by the property and says that her granddaughter takes particular delight in the wild turkeys that frequent the neighborhood. Her husband, a coal miner for 35 years who died of of black lung, is buried in the family cemetery next to their home.

Lorelei's property in Rock Creek borders Coal River Mountain, one of the most beautiful mountains in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, and one of the few untouched mountains in the region. Miles of pristine creeks and waterfalls, horseback trails and stunning vistas are often overlooked as a prime eco-tourism location.

Now Coal River Mountain is slated for a mountaintop removal coal mine. If the coal company's plans go through, nearly 10 square miles of the mountain will be destroyed, and 18 valley fills will devastate the Coal River watershed.

But residents in the Coal River Valley have joined together to propose a new idea - one of sustainable energy. In 2006, a study of the wind potential on Coal River Mountain demonstrated that the mountain is an ideal location for developing utility-scale wind power.

The proposed Coal River Wild Project would produce enough wind power to keep the lights on in 150,000 homes, pump $20 million per year in direct local spending during construction, and $2 million per year thereafter. It would create hundreds of jobs and allow other uses of the land that would benefit local communities. Sustainable forestry, tourism, and harvesting of ginseng and other wild plants are just a few options for Coal River residents that would ultimately preserve the natural environment of Coal River Mountain for generations to come.

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[LauraPsi7]

What the video does not even show is that once these mountains are striped of vegitation.. they NEVER grow back. Too many poisons in the soil. A forever wasteland. So it is not a temporary destruction. It is permanent destruction.

[even8r]

If they keep blowing up mountain tops, the earth will look like the moon. No blue-green mountain tops, no beautiful crystal clear creeks. Just black-gray flattened mountains. UGLY.

Wind mills against the blue-green landscape is much more desired than the black-gray ugliness of a mountain-less landscape. I lived near St Albans and I remember how beautiful the mountains are. Don't destroy the beauty and the wildlife that depend on the untarnished beauty of the mountains.

SAVE COAL MOUNTAIN!

[kaidensfire]

WV has already been raped by coal mining

a wind project will not be approved as long as coal company's

are paying politicians to look the other way...

this is coming from someone who works in the coal industry,

Save our state!

Friends of wind!

[SchreiFurMich1]

SAVE WEST VIRGINIA FROM STRPPING OUR MOUNTAINS!!

[Hayden57Dixon]

look at WV and see what 90% of the southern part lives on for a job, coal minen, all i gotta say is i love mountains that produce coal, and i guarantee most the people down in rock creek, dry creek, naoma, and peachtree all have a great deal of history in the coal industry, yall dont even bitch about the loggen industry do ya? its taken many trees from squrrell, bear and coon hunters

[Hayden57Dixon]

yall only see the the cons of strip minen look at the pros by god

[APersonAgainstCoal]

Renewable sources are such a great investment- Coal companies only continue to lie about the advantages of endangering mountains and communities.

[benita1155]

blah blah blah....How many years can they screw the ppl?

[BretDecay]

A shopping center doesnt take the whole top off a mountain roads dont ether they dont pollute as much either and they dont put all these chemicals in the soil...wow i cant wait to see when 100% electric cars hit, now they have found a way to make electric cars just ass good or better if you'd like to never have a fuel prise than other cars...i can't wait.

[BretDecay]

people have to live somewhere and the cities are going renewable wind energy too like New York city, L.A. and San Fransiscoand many more we can't just keep polluting and blowing the tops from the beautiful maintans, coal will still be used but wind energy will be. To wind is everywhere the sun is too...wind energy is the best thing that has ever hit this great state of West Virginia it will make jobs and conserve nature, and make West Vieginia just a little bit cleaner.5 stars for wind evergy...

[304teddy]

coal feeds many families, im happy for you. if the coal were mined through deep mining instead of MTR coal would feed even more families. it takes alot less manpower to strip mine in comparison to a deep mine. the big coal companies make more money with a strip mine and thats why they push MTR. wake up people.

[Gilboa7711]

Why has no one considered the archealogical devastation taking place? I grew up in the "coal fields" of Ky. I've seen huge fossils both animal and vegetable come from those hills. Why have there been no digg sites other than for coal? Are these not some of the oldest mountains in the world?