Coal supporters plan show of support during Chandler visit

by CRIS RITCHIE

Editor

As coal industry insiders in eastern Kentucky say the industry itself could have tough times ahead due to a lack of mining permits being issued, one group in Perry County is organizing to laud the benefits that coal presents eastern Kentucky, and they say they plan on being present when U.S. Congressman Ben Chandler, who represents the Sixth Congressional District in central Kentucky, touches down in Perry County this weekend for a mountaintop removal tour.

Chandler was scheduled to visit eastern Kentucky for a fly over of mountaintop removal sites in eastern Kentucky earlier this month along with Rep. Norm Dicks, of Washington state. Chandler and Dicks were prevented from flying to Perry County due to mechanical difficulties with their airplane, but the tour has been rescheduled for this weekend, according to the Whitesburg office of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the two lawmakers are scheduled to land at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Wendell Ford Airport outside of Hazard.

Perry County Clerk Haven King led a meeting of coal supporters at Hazard City Hall last Friday evening. Among the items discussed during the meeting was whether or not to make an appearance at the airport as a show of support for the coal industry.

“I think we’ll have some people there,” King said. “We’ve got to represent our side. We need to be able to show them things that’s positive.”

At issue is the method of mountaintop removal coal mining, a practice which many environmentalists have said is detrimental to the local environment due to valley fills that are created with excess material taken off the top of the mountain to expose a seam of coal underneath. Opponents of the practice have claimed that mountaintop removal covers streams and has a negative effect on water quality in eastern Kentucky.

But supporters of the coal industry say that mountaintop removal, if done correctly, has a minimal impact on the environment and when an operation is complete and reclaimed it leaves only a minor scar on the land. They also point to the economical benefits coal mining has produced by way of hundreds of jobs in the region.

“People have to realize this is our land, this is our country, these are our mountains, these are our jobs,” King said. “We want to raise our families here.”

Efforts to block mountaintop removal mining, such as the failed stream saver bill brought before the Appropriations and Revenue Committee in the Kentucky House of Representatives earlier this year, have been mostly unsuccessful, but industry supporters say these attempts to block mountaintop removal could eventually have an adverse effect on all types of mining.

Currently, the United States Army Corps of Engineers have not issued any 404 permits for valley fills this year, said Paul Jackson, with Perry County Coal, and this not only blocks mountaintop removal operations, but many coal mining operations in which spoil material is produced.

Jackson noted that Perry County Coal may not be as affected initially due to mines in operation that are already established, but as long as these permits are not being issued, it could spell problems in the future. “Where you get into it is that we have large mines. In the future we’re going to have to build portals, other shafts, to access that boundary of coal,” he said. “If you don’t have access to a fill, you cant put those in.”

Jackson noted that this is not only a potential Kentucky problem, but a national problem as well, as Kentucky coal is not only used to produce electricity in Kentucky, but in several states throughout the nation. But ultimately if no coal is being mined there is no need for coal miners. “That means I’m out of work and 600 people we have at Perry County Coal are out of work,” he said.

“We need to wake up and understand that half of our electricity generated in this country comes from coal,” Jackson added. “Which half do you not want to have power?”

King said people who support the coal industry need to speak out more and let their elected leaders know where they stand. “People need to be more vocal. They need to call their senator and call their representatives. They need to write Ben Chandler and tell him what they think,” he said.

Many supporters of surface mining note that the creation of flat land as a result of the mining process allows for further economic development, but King added it's more than bringing a business into town. He pointed to the elk restoration project, subdivisions and the airport at which Chandler was scheduled to land earlier this month as what can happen with land left over from a mountaintop removal site.