Today, I will not play with soft words. I am going to come right out and say the thing that's screaming to be said.
I am not a Friend of Coal. No, I hate Big Coal.
Today's post-modern coal industry is run by a miserable racket of thugs who are only narrowly less evil than their early-20th Century counterparts; it is a racket that ought to be broken immediately.
The permanent end of this despicable brand of post-modern coal barony would do only good, both for the world at large and for the state of West Virginia.
I know, I know, but please don't wake me up. Let me dream a little longer – until the end of this column, anyway.
But know this: I am no environmentalist, or at least, if I am one, I am a profoundly poor one.
I do all of the things that we all know we shouldn't but do anyway: the endless driving, the plastic water bottles, and the ravenous electricity consumption – all that distinctly American wastefulness.
I don't belong to any organizations, and I don't proselytize for the green gospel. I don't even absolutely oppose the burning of coal for electricity generation.
But there is something special about the coal industry.
With its arrogance, its disdain for progress, its open disregard for even basic environmental protection and its indifference to human safety, the industry taunts us.
We not only stand idly by as we are taunted, we sometimes join in.
Indeed, the most nefarious of all the things the industry has done may very well be the thorough brainwashing of the serfs it calls employees, for whom it cares something less than a speck.
They have joined the fight on behalf of their masters.
Now when the rest of us voice opposition to the oligopoly of out-of-state corporations who run the coal racket inside our borders, we are voicing opposition to miners too.
No one wants to do that. No one opposes genuine blue-collar Americans. Well played, barons. If you are not an enemy of hard-working miners, then you must either be a Friend of Coal, or be silent.
The West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training estimates that the coal industry provides 30,000 jobs in West Virginia.
Now, that's a lot, but – 30,000? In a state with a population of 1.8 million? Does that number justify an eternal stranglehold?
Twenty-five of the state's 55 counties produce coal (Monongalia is among them).
The coal-producing counties also happen to be, by and large, the most desperately poor in the state.
What do the rest of our counties do? Tourism, perhaps, because they are clean and their mountains un-stripped.
Maybe healthcare and education. Maybe they don't place elementary schools directly beneath enormous toxic slurry ponds.
This is my favorite number of all: 99 percent of our state's electricity comes from coal.
Our electricity is cheap, relative to the rest of the nation, as a result.
This is, however, absolutely no reason to keep things this way.
This form of electricity is not cheap; the secondary effects, from stream fills to slurry impoundments to the production of dangerous levels of ozone and radon gas, come at a cost that is not measurable.
Furthermore, what could it be, other than madness or folly, to invest 99 percent of our capacity to create electricity in a resource that is, by its very nature, finite?
Nothing resembling a genuine attempt to diversify our electricity base has ever been made, and no such attempt will be made in our lifetimes.
Don't we have some kind of obligation to consider the future?
Neither cheap electricity nor 30,000 jobs nor tax revenues that once kept us in the black without work (but not anymore) are viable economic excuses for the mind control this industry exercises over us.
We are terrified servants. Why? Do we not know better? Are we not educated?
Do we choose to blind ourselves to the future this racket offers us, because to look upon it is to admit that we simply cannot continue on this path forever?
There is not a single reason that improving our lot is out of the question, but we've got to start with an admission that we are wrong about coal, and that we have been wrong for a long time.
Stop consuming without challenge the insulting propaganda of Consol and Massey, out-of-states conglomerates that own our resources and own our jobs and would own our souls if they could.
Nothing that coal provides is worth its cost for long.
is a member of the 
14 comments
"Thu Feb 4 2010 13:50
I hope you realize that if they eliminate coal from this state that 30,000 families will be forced to go on welfare. I hope you realize that the state would have to fund that in order for them to live. I'm glad you mentioned all of the facts against coal, but what about the facts for coal? Too many people in this state and country depend on coal. It is more efficient than windmills by far. If we eliminate coal, we are eliminating the state of West Virginia."That would be unfortunate, but what else do you expect when the state primarly focuses on one thing to support families? Maybe coal is what is making WV so poor, since that is what the state is so attached to. IF coal suddenly becomes unprofitable, what do you turn to? Tourism? For one who has been all over the state, there can only be so many places to go skiing or go climb a mountain. Healthcare? Yeah, for a state as prone to almost every disease and condition and not really fixing it, I doubt it. State needs diversification to come alive and actually mean something to this country.
You cannot have Healthcare and Education if no one has money to pay for the services! How does one get money? Well, you get out into the real world (read: mommy and daddy stop bankrolling your time to have "feelings") and you get a job! Who provides jobs in the 25 West Virginia coal counties? The coal industry. Now, for the sake of your argument, lets switch out dirty coal miners with clean, happy tourism workers. Do you honestly think tourism will bankroll everything? Take it from a guy who has lived in Hawaii – if you base your entire economy on tourism, you are doomed to the worst schools, roads, and healthcare. (Go live there for a few years – a 2 week vacation doesn’t do Hawaii’s social problems an ounce of justice) And that’s the result in HAWAII!!!! How do you think Boone County West Virginia will fare?“Now, that’s a lot, but – 30,000? In a state with a population of 1.8 million? Does that number justify an eternal stranglehold?”
Well, to someone as educated and prominent as C.G. Shields, 30,000 jobs may not be a lot, but anyone who has taken an hour of Economics knows that number is very misleading. Those are DIRECT jobs. There are also peripheral jobs created by the coal industry. For example, teachers in coal counties are paid their salaries by taxes that come from the 30,000 coal miners. Health-care workers in coal counties are funded by coal miners' health plans. The guy behind the counter at the local Go-Mart has a job because there are employed coal miners who make a salary and need to buy things. The trucker who delivers the supplies to the local Go-Mart has a job because there is a Go-Mart. Etc., etc., etc… Hell, I would guess that 10% of WVU's payroll is funded by tuition paid by coal-miners so their kids can go to college. Where did they get that money to pay the tuition costs? Well, they are part of the mere 30,000 people coal employs. (Side observation: since the author is unimpressed with 30,000 private sector jobs, I expect he or she expects to be the CEO of a company that employs MORE than 30,000 folks)"Nothing that coal provides is worth its cost for long."
Right… A product that has saved millions of lives because it provides heat during cold winters (when thousands of people used to freeze to death) “isn't worth it’s cost.” A resource that provides the power for CT Scans so cancerous tumors can be detected before it’s too late surely “isn’t worth it’s cost.” The fact is that because of coal, people the world over live longer, more fruitful lives. Lives C.G. would prefer shortened because C.G. feels bad every time C.G. drives past a factory with a smoke stack.It sure is easy to have asinine opinions when mommy and daddy Shields pay for little C.G.’s education. My guess is the author of this article has been in college for more than 4 years, and fears the concept of going out into the real world. If the author ever leaves college, he or she will likely be employed in the public sector – making “feel-good,” yet economically devastating, policy as a tax-payer funded employee of the EPA.At least one thing the author said makes sense:
“I know, I know, but please don’t wake me up. Let me dream a little longer…”
No C.G. No-one will wake you up. Please keep dreaming. We are doing fine out here in the real-world without you.