Mountaintop Mining Stakeholders Meet

W.Va. representatives, opponents, Manchin try to find a ‘balance’

Morgantown Dominion Post
26 January 2010
By David Beard

CHARLESTON — Gov. Joe Manchin, federal lawmakers and groups opposed to mountaintop mining met Monday to begin a dialogue — to find a point of discussion between what they acknowledged are apparently incompatible points of view.

“What we’re looking for ... is trying to find a balance,” Manchin said.

He was joined at the Capitol by Reps. Shelley Moore Capito and Nick Rahall; staffers from Rep. Alan Mollohan and Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller; country singer Kathy Mattea; coal industry representatives and members of the Coal River Mountain Watch, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the West Virginia Environmental Coalition, state agencies and other interest groups.

At a press conference, they explained that they’ve begun what they hope is the first of a series of “respectful discussions” about mountaintop removal mining and steep slope strip mining.

“It’s the right time to start talking to each other, not at each other,” Bo Webb, of Coal River Mountain Watch, said.

“We are not opposed to coal mining,” Webb said. “We are adamantly opposed to mountaintop removal [and] steep slope strip surface mining. We can’t allow the extermination of the mountains and the communities and ecosystems surrounding them.”

Referring to violence in the coalfields between pro- and antisurface mining groups, Capito said she learned these are “very emotional issues” for the groups and all West Virginians.

And Mattea said, “I want this conversation to take place in an atmosphere of safety for everyone.”

In individual interviews after the opening remarks, Manchin talked about finding a balance between the views. He said he thinks he can show the surface mining opponents how proper planning can make mined land more pro- ductive than it was before it was mined. It can be restored for use as commercial or industrial property, and wind and solar farms.

“That’s one of our respectful disagreements.”

Maria Gunnoe, of the Ohio Valley group, told The Dominion Post she appreciates the beginning of the dialogue. But she doesn’t see Manchin’s point of view.

“There is no economic development if people can’t live there — if there is no water,” she said. “We don’t believe that we need to flatten our mountains for economic development.

We’re more concerned about the already inhabited flat land that’s there that’s being destroyed — the communities that are disappearing.”

She terms post-mining reclamation a “mad science experiment.” She recognizes the need for coal, but advocates for underground mining.

“If it can’t be reached by underground methods, it should be left in the ground; it should be considered unmineable.

She said she’s seen coalfield violence first-hand. And as an anti-surface mining advocate, she said she’s had people come stand in her yard at 2:30 a.m., and her children have been harassed in school.

“We have to confront the issue of violence in the coal fields,” she said. “We don’t want to die for the industry, and we don’t want the people in the industry to die for us.”