Hechler didn’t win, but mountaintop removal should stay on agenda

Ken Hechler may have lost to Gov. Joe Manchin in the Senate primary Saturday, but that doesn't mean his continuing fight for our environment has to end as well.

During Hechler's campaign, he took a vow to stand against the coal companies and end mountaintop removal, a form of coal mining in which explosives are used to blow up mountains to gain easier access to coal seams.

This form of mining has caused profound damage to our streams, woodlands, economy and the thing that makes West Virginia the "Mountain State"– our mountains.

According to a 2003 report found at ilovemountains.org, a website committed to ending mountaintop removal, more than 800 square miles have been estimated to be already destroyed, more than 100 miles of streams have been buried in valley fills, and if these environmentally ignorant actions continue, an estimated 1.4 million acres nationwide will be destroyed by the end of the decade.

Research conducted at The University of Kentucky reported that mountaintop removal increases the risks of flooding due to a greater runoff production and less surface flow detention.

Another danger that I have firsthand experience with is the construction and maintenance of sludge dams that are at every coal preparation plant.

While receiving dam impoundment inspection training, I learned of several cases in which dams failed, such as the Buffalo Creek Disaster in 1972 in Logan County, W. Va.

Just four days after the dam was declared satisfactory by a federal mine inspector, the dam broke and killed 125 people and left hundreds more homeless. A similar situation exists today.

"Marsh Fork School sits about 200 feet below a sludge pond ... every time they blast we're apprehensive that themud-lined dam will break. If that (dam) breaks while school is in session, (you're) going to lose a lot of kids," Hechler told the editorial board of The Daily Athenaeum last week.

Mountaintop removal is appealing to coal company executives for its high profit margin.

Fewer employees are needed at mountaintop removal sites than at conventional coal mines, and therefore much less is spent on labor costs.

But their methods of maximizing profits are crippling to the land and communities surrounding these devastating sites. Residents within these areas rely on the polluted streams for drinking water.

It is inspiring to know that at 95, Hechler is able to make such an attempt to win a Senate seat and fight for the environment.

But it is also his age that makes his goals impossible for him to achieve.

If another candidate would have the views and concerns as Hechler, he or she would probably have my full support. After losing Senator Robert C. Byrd at 92, I just can't justify replacing him with someone three years his senior.

With Ken Hechler's remarkable career as a congressman, author, teacher, advisor to President Harry Truman and an all around model leader, it is hard to imagine that he believed his chances to be great.

He probably assumed Gov. Joe Manchin would win in a landslide victory as he did, but Hechler strived until the end, anyway.

He used this opportunity to spread the word on how mountaintop removal needs to be strictly a thing of the past.

If he hadn't spoken in front of the Mountainlair Tuesday, I probably would have never been aware of the hardships mountaintop removal brings to many members of the Appalachian community.

I hope that future politicians can look to Hechler as an example and make a difference for matters most.

And in the great state of West Virginia, our mountains matter the most.