The choices we make now will make or break our collective environmental future. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than with the dispute over West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain, one of the last mountains still intact in the Coal River Valley.
But the future of the mountain is in jeopardy. A subsidiary of Massey Energy has recently applied for strip mine permits that would destroy 6600 acres of the Coal River Mountain, or almost 10 square miles. Not only would this plan destroy a beautiful area, but it would also dump waste into valleys that fill almost every neighboring headwater stream.
The 15 year mining plan would destroy almost all viable wind power potential on the mountain.
This would be a huge tragedy, as a wind farm atop Coal River Mountain would provide enough energy for 150,000 homes indefinitely and create hundreds of jobs in one of the poorest areas of the country.
At the same time, tax income from the project could be used to construct new schools in the county.
This is a classic example of the dilemma between extracting unsustainable resources (thus ruining the area that supplies the resources) and securing our future with alternative energy programs. For more information on saving the Coal River Mountain, visit the Coal River Mountain Watch site.
Posts Related to Coal and Wind Power:
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- Court Halts Construction of Coal-Fired Power Plant in Georgia
- Coal Plants Cancelled in Wyoming : Sustainablog
- The “Unlimited” Potential of American Wind Power: AWEA : CleanTechnica
- Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines: The Future of Micro Wind?
I think destroying mountains to get to the coal is absurd. It pollutes rivers and streams, destroys the ecosystem, and destroys the quality of life of humans who live in the midst of it.
I have not seen the damage in WV first hand, but I have seen video footage of it, and strip mining has also started along the Cumberland Plateau in E KY. The conditions in most of that region are much the same as the descriptions of WV.
The only reason for doing this is greed. Wind power would not be as profitable for energy companies, who think they have to have an obscene profit margin in all that they do. When coal must be mined it should be done the old fashioned way using every possible precaution to prevent harm of the surrounding environment. Mine shafts should also be secured to the highest level of safety possible to protect the miners. Energy companies could still make a profit while mining the coal in the most ethical manner possible.
Nature lovers like me would love for the mountains to remain unchanged. Tourism could easily be a source of income. Tourists need gas, food, some want lodging. If they would leave the mountain roads open when there is significant snow, there are people like me who love snow and own 4×4 SUVs who can drive through almost anything unharmed. The photos of the mountains in WV on Google Earth are beautiful, and I have wanted to go there. The current price of gasoline has prevented me from doing so.
Help save this mountain and assist the people people of Southern WV. Support the purposed wind farm …
check out the website and sign the petition.
http://www.coalriverwind.org/
The good people who live in WV have little say in the matter and believe it or not the Bureaucrats in Charleston and Energy Companies who lobby them run the show. I know, and it may come as a shock but money will be the all deciding factor for them. Fast, easy money.
Being a native of WV it never ceases to amaze me at how much money has left the state on the rail lines, via the coal, and never come back. Now the state itself is one of the nations poorest while over the years we have produced a great deal of the very energy that has run this country.
Minning for coal can be done in an environmentally friendly way, that is what we should be going for, not just the complete abandonment of fossil fuels. I’m always a little taken aback by the fact that people want the environment to stay the same but yet those mountains weren’t always there and their shape will change over time as the Earth has always done. It seems like the Earth changing can only be ok if it’s the Earth doing it to itself. Go figure, the Earth hasn’t always been the best at this, causing ice ages and what not…. I’m also surprised by the push for wind power as this amazing technology. Don’t get me wrong, wind power is great. Don’t get me started on the waste of time it really is given that wind is caused by the thermal variances in the atmosphere caused by the sun we should go for the primary source, solar power, and stop wasting time on non primary sources. Ocean current power, close to wind power, is a little different because it is mostly attributed to the gravitational pull of the moon, so it is more of a primary source though thermal variation is part of it. Has anyone read the recently released report from the UK’s equivalent of the Department of Energy. They are concerned about the fact that throughout most of the winter dead air hangs over the UK and produces no wind, but guess what, the sun still shines….Fossil fuel is not evil all by itself, it is how we mine it, how we use it, and how we handle it’s by products.
I have been to the Coal River valley. My ex wife lives there. The river is dead, the towns are dying, and the houses are falling down. It’s a dirty, depressing place that had it’s heyday back in the 1920′s. The main town in the Coal River valley has a funeral home, a bar, and a gas station. And a red light that everyone ignores.
Anything that can be done to clean that place up and bring that dead river back to life would be great. But take the coal mines away and southern West Virginia dies. Tourists don’t spend enough money to equal it out.
How about, ban strip mining and allow them to shaft mine? It still makes a mess, but a smaller one.
I think we will see more destruction before we see less. It is about jobs and until we can replace the coal jobs we aren’t getting anywhere.
http://www.rerenewables.com
The continued pursuit for fossil fuels is still wrong, dumbasses!!!! Wake up!
I suspect as usual it will go backwards!
JT
http://www.FireMe.to/udi
West Virginia, like the rest of the nation and world, is at an important crossroads.
I hope they take the sustainable route.
I don’t understand who in WV would fight for coal! I live here and I think coal is ruining our state! Coal is the worst thing about WV, and I want coal mining and coal fired power plants to all be stopped NOW! Let’s get clean wind and solar and FORGET ABOUT DIRTY, DEADLY COAL!
Coal is a way of life here. It is not like we can just stop mining it, what else do we have at the moment? All of these enviromentalist show you pictures of what it looks like while it is being mined, not after it has ben reclaimed. In most caeses it looks better after reclamation. And these stupid people like some on this board, coal is dirty, deadly,it kills, save our mountains. I bet you like turning on your lightswitch dont you. What i am saying, the electricity in our COUNTRY is almost 50% coal powered. So go ahead, tell is to the world, shut it down, and then see if you like not having electricity. And if you people only knew how many jobs were at stake, you would shut the hell up.
The problem of Wind, is that production is not consumption dependent. Coal has a similar difficulty, but on an investment grade time scale. West Virginia simply hasn’t the terrain suitable for Commerce, which Industry would follow, so it’s a nice place to visit, if you’re a hunter or hotelier; it’s not a place to build a business or otherwise seek a fortune.
What I find attractive in Strip Mining, is that institutionally sized parcels would be available at ecotastrophic prices, perhaps for a Gesundheit! Medical College.
West Virginia is rough enough, that Hydro-Electric Energy Storage could make wind compatible with Nuclear, rather than with Coal, which has shorter on-off cycles.
I think the Transverse Wind Turbine has a future, if its liabilities can be virtuized by clever exploitation.
I have an old house in NJ, 2200 sq. ft. all brick with cement interior walls built in 1942. I put on a new roof, insulated the attic and basement and replaced all 32 windows with double panes at great expense. This winter my natural gas bill was $500 for December, $630 for January and $630 for February. How much will it cost when the Cap & Trade for this REDICULOUS imaginary human caused global warming fraud passes? This fear mongering over NATURAL Climate variations will be similar to the Stimulus Bill. Non of our esteemed Representative will even READ it they will act on the publis sentiment that has been constantly pushed by the left wing media. You better consider what will REALLY HAPPEN when energy prices are artificially raised beyond the means of working citizens. They will install WOOD, COAL, & PELLET BURNING STOVES, which if you believe in Global Warming will release more carbon. No one can afford enough solar panels and no one IS EVEN ALLOWED to install windmills in residential areas around here. The unintended consequences of the left wingers is always WORSE than what they are protesting. I had my house surveyed for Solar Power it was going to cost $32,000 AFTER State Rebates to provide 40% of my electricity. Sorry folks but that’s a damn joke. I have been to WV and I think you have a beautiful State and strip mining sucks but to think you are going to outlaw coal and oil is not just stupid, it’s dangerous. Despite Al Gores’ hot air winter still gets COLD and cold can kill you fast. I think Ookie has it right when he thinks a return to shaft mining is a good compromise. I know it’s easy for me to say because I don’t live next to a mine but the alternative energy isn’t practical yet. Did you know that when the wind generators are on line the coal, gas and nuclear fired plants still have to run at near capacity because there is no way to store the electricity from the wind and when it stops blowing you can’t just turn on a power plant?