Mountain mining called ”genocide” of Appalachia

KAYFORD MOUNTAIN, W. Va (Reuters) – Larry Gibson’s tiny house sits in a green oasis on top of the Appalachian peak his family has called home for 230 years. The setting would be peaceful if not for the roar of machinery scraping away the surrounding mountain in search of coal.

“It’s a noisy, dusty place. They dynamite constantly,” said Gibson, 61. “It’s the genocide of Appalachia, the destruction of a people who have lived in these mountains forever.”
Gibson has emblazoned the wooden cabin he calls home with a banner calling for an end to mountaintop mining, along with the words “We are the keepers of the mountains … don’t destroy them” — his defiant stand against coal companies who have offered to buy his land.

“How can I tell people to stand up if I don’t do it myself?” Gibson asked. “The land I stand on is worth more than the almighty dollar.”

Coal mining has sustained generations of Americans in Appalachia, an isolated and often impoverished region stretching across America’s eastern interior. Mine shafts and coal conveyors dot the hamlets and hollows where miners live amid the splendor of smoky mountains and hardwood forests.

But while the U.S. appetite for coal has long bumped against the environmental impact of mining, the growth of mountaintop removal has divided residents as never before.

Church groups urge congregants to write to Congress to stop mountaintop mining. University students converge on West Virginia in the summer to demand “mountain justice.” Protesters lead prayer vigils to save the mountains.

Yahoo News