By Chuck Nelson, Interviewed by Sandy Reid, People’s Tribune
SYLVESTER, WEST VIRGINIA — I have almost 30 years underground. I worked for Massey Energy, the same company where the explosion killed 29 miners. They took my job because I stood up to defend my community. In the community I live, mountain top removal has had a big impact on health. There’s a lot of brain tumors, kidney disease and birth defects. I‘ve gone around for years talking about people having kidney cancer. I’ve had kidney and liver failure. I’ve had 13 surgeries this year.
Now they’re getting ready to take our healthcare away. Congress tried to pass a spending bill. A few Republicans wanted to block having the Miner’s Protection Act in it. It would protect healthcare and pensions. This was guaranteed in 1946 when the country was facing war and needed coal. Recently, when coal companies filed for bankruptcy, they tried to get out of their responsibilities. Now a lot of coal miners may be losing their benefits. These benefits are crucial for widows of miners and disabled coal miners. Congress left for the holidays, giving a 4-month extension.
I’ve been in this activity since 2006, with others, several of who have passed away. When you speak out about the coal industry you are targeted. I’ve been beaten up. Miners think we’re taking their jobs. I stand with my community when it comes to the jobs issue. I ask what good are those jobs if you don’t have a planet to live on? Their propaganda is that they are creating jobs. They are not. They use 12 men to blow a mountain top off, poisoning the water and air. If you do deep mining it will take 200 miners. They are eliminating jobs to maximize profit. Communities are disappearing that have been here for hundreds of years. They’re just wiped off the earth. As more jobs dry up, people have to leave. If a community stands up against the coal industry, they buy out the community, drive people out and bulldoze it. They are depopulating the community as they mine the coal.
I can’t tell you how many trips I’ve made to Washington, DC, to the EPA Office of Surface Mining. We had perfect water before, stream/mountain water. You can’t drink it now. It’s poisoned with toxic coal waste. They injected stuff into old abandoned mines and now, with mountain top removal blowing up the mountains, it’s cracking these mines and leaking coal waste into the aquifer. The water turns black. People are getting cancer. In a town called Prenter, WV, a lot of people died from the well water. We fought for years to get city water. The regulatory agencies don’t want to point the finger toward the coal industry. Getting people to fight in these small communities is difficult because they are linked to the industry.
We have to have water. It’s that or all of us are going to be destroyed. We need to make this a global issue. It’s the only way we can get anything done. With the Paris talks on climate control, other countries are getting involved. Now this administration says they’re going to do away with everything. It’s really a time when we need to come together.
