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Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004

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Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004 Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004 Shirley L. Stewart Burns Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Ronald L. Lewis, Ph.D., Chair Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Greg Good, Ph.D. John Hennen, Ph.D. Roger Lohmann, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2005 Keywords: Mountaintop removal, strip mining, surface mining, coal mining, coal communities, UMWA, politics, West Virginia, environment, Blair, Kopperston, Sylvester, slurry impoundment, valley fill, Massey, Arch, power, power relationships Copyright© 2005 Shirley L. Stewart Burns ABSTRACT BRINGING DOWN THE MOUNTAINS: THE IMPACT OF MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL SURFACE COAL MINING ON SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA COMMUNITIES, 1970-2004 SHIRLEY L. STEWART BURNS While surface mining began in West Virginia during WWI, the practice did not expand until WWII. Used to fuel the war effort, surface mining would become the industry-preferred means of mining coal and gained a permanent place in West Virginia’s coal mining industry. Mountaintop removal surface coal mining began on Fayette County, West Virginia’s, Bullpush Mountain in 1970. An extreme version of strip mining, during mountaintop removal the tops of mountains are removed via blasting in order to reveal the coal seams below. The last thirty-four years has seen an escalation in this mining method from forty-four permits covering 9,800 acres throughout the 1980s to the granting of permits covering 12,540 acres in a nine-month period in 2002 alone. This increase in mountaintop removal has impacted southern West Virginia not only environmentally, but socially and culturally as well. The introduction of 20-story draglines in the 1980s allowed for the swifter removal of coal by mountaintop removal. The process enjoyed a great expansion during the 1990s after the Federal Clean Air Act was amended to include a more stringent emissions standard. This increased the demand for southern West Virginia’s low sulfur, high volatility coal. Since that time, the process has entered many southern West Virginia coal communities. The UMWA, once staunchly aligned with coal community citizens, continually found itself torn between its Union members working on these sites and the coal community residents opposed to this mining technique. Many coal community residents directly affected by this process created “free spaces” where they could band together in opposition. Many citizens have been plaintiffs in lawsuits against the coal companies operating in their communities, but West Virginia politicians’ have vacillated between silence and protectionism. As a direct result of mountaintop removal, the environment of southern West Virginia has suffered as the conversion of continuous hardwood forests have been turned into a fragmented landscape interspersed with grasslands more characteristic of the mid-western United States than Appalachia. This study focuses on the various impacts this newest form of coal mining has had on coal communities in the nine southernmost West Virginia counties where it takes place, and on the UMWA’s declining influence as a traditional counterweight in southern West Virginia. The social, economic, political and environmental consequences are also explored. For My daddy, the late Neely U. Stewart and my mom, Cora McKinney Stewart who gave me strong roots and the courage of my convictions. Thank you both for telling me that I could be anything that I wanted to be. And for my brother Rick Stewart and the rest of my Stewart and McKinney kin; But most especially for my husband, Matthew Burns whose support and encouragement has made all the difference, and with whom I am truly blessed; This work is dedicated to the generations of men in my family who have made their living underground, especially, my daddy; my grandpaws, the late Gillis Stewart and the late Dave McKinney; and my brother, Allen Stewart, the last of our family to mine these hills; and to my grandmaws who patiently endured, the late Minnie Walker Stewart and the late Maxine Lusk McKinney I cherish all of you. Acknowledgements A major endeavor such as this could never reach fruition without a long list of people to thank. This is no exception. I wish to thank my entire committee. Ronald Lewis has been a most wonderful adviser and mentor. I am forever thankful that after our first meeting he encouraged me to work with him on a history Ph.D., in spite of my reservations. He is the consummate scholar, and it is obvious that he loves what he does. The time and effort he has spent in useful and constructive criticism of this dissertation is appreciated more than I could ever express. His scholarship, professionalism, and integrity are much admired. A special thanks is in order to Roger Lohmann. After producing a series of research papers on the evolution of black lung legislation for his social work policies class, he took me aside, encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D., and guided me to the history department of West Virginia University and to Ronald Lewis. As an earnest, involved mentor, Dr. Lohmann has to be among the best and deserves much thanks. From the beginning of my doctoral studies, Elizabeth Foneswolf always provided a friendly ear and an open demeanor that, in addition to her excellent teaching skills, made her one of the most approachable – and personable -- scholars I have ever encountered. My love of history was certainly fueled by John Hennen’s lively and interesting history courses. I am especially grateful that he traveled from Kentucky to be at my defense. While not knowing me as well as my other committee members, Greg Good’s quick enthusiasm for my topic and embracement of my approach was truly appreciated. I thank him for giving me the title idea for chapter six, the environmental chapter. I am convinced that I had the best committee, all wonderful scholars and equally great people. Thanks to every member for all of the encouragement and input. In iv addition to my dissertation committee members, I also offer thanks to Jack McKivigan, who served as a member of my competency examination committee. He is a fantastic teacher who made students want to work harder and question more. I want to also thank Ken Ward, Jr., of the Charleston Gazette and Melody Bragg of the Mine Safety and Health Administration Library in Beaver, West Virginia, for much appreciated and much needed information on United Mine Workers of America membership numbers. I have always been very fortunate to have many family and friends that have encouraged me from the beginning. My father, long since passed away, was not able to provide the verbal encouragement I had grown so accustomed to receiving from him as a child and young adult; however, you will find him in every line of this endeavor. My father possessed more courage and dignity than anyone I have ever known. His shortened life, ultimately at the hands of the coal mining that sustained us, touched me to my very core and gave my education true meaning. My entire life has been formed and shaped by my childhood and young adult years spent in the small community of Matheny, in the heart of the coalfields of southern West Virginia’s Wyoming County. It was here that I developed a passion for people’s stories, looking at issues from the “bottom up,” and a continued persistence in asking “why” things were the way they appeared to be. It was my father and mother that taught me through example to love and cherish these aged hills and the kin that dwelt within them. Their love of home and place brought them back to these mountains even when doing well in the big city. Throughout all of my schooling, my mother has been an especially vocal cheerleader, always encouraging me and always letting me know that I could do whatever I set my mind to. It was her encouragement alone that got me through many uncertain, lonely days in my v early graduate work. I am blessed and eternally grateful to have had such wonderful parents. I am also grateful to the Burns’ family who quickly accepted me into their family and embraced my dreams as their own. I thank all of my friends who have provided verbal encouragement to me throughout the years and listened patiently to my numerous mining stories. Three, in particular, were especially helpful in this present process. Louis Orslene helped me focus, created a timeline, and read and provided valuable input on the earliest draft of this endeavor. Christina Bailey, an attorney, read and provided an expert critique of chapter five. Finally, Connie Rice read my earliest draft, provided useful input, and listened to me when I needed it the most. If there is one individual on earth that I am forever indebted to, it would be my husband Matthew Burns who endured an endless cacophony of mining information, vocal brainstorming, research, writing and rewrites. I am certain that I would not have completed this endeavor without his subtle – and not so subtle – encouragement. His faith in me was stronger than my belief in myself and kept me moving forward. When I felt overwhelmed, he talked me through it and gave me the strength and focus I needed to write “just a little bit more.” A better research assistant is not to be found and a more encouraging, supportive partner, I am convinced, does not exist. His willingness to spend hours in the library gleaning statistical information on topics that are of no interest to him is amazing.
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