Mountain Holler
Coal companies trample opposition
January 29th, 2008
(Letter to the editor written by Lorelei Scarbro of Rock Creek, WV published in the Herald Dispatch)
Living in the state of West Virginia truly does feel like a scene from a movie about the wild, wild west where the bad guys ride into town with the intimidating tactics of guns blazing and trampling anyone in their way.
The bad guys in this state are those who refuse to see that there is a right way and a wrong way to mine coal. The bad guys are those who would insist that mountaintop removal and the way the rest of us suffer from it is an acceptable way of life.
The bad guys are, well let's just say it, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, Gov. Joe Manchin and all the rest of those with the power to clean up this state and put it on the path to green jobs and renewable energy and refuse to do it.
All of those in bed with the bad guys had better stand up, shake the coal dust from their feet and move on. For the sake of your constituents and not your pockets, do the right thing. Stop aligning yourself with those who would trample the little guy in the street.
By the way, I am a registered Democrat.
Lorelei Scarbro
Rock Creek, W.Va.