Mountain Holler
Conversations from MySapce: WVU study: Coal counties have higher disease rates
March 27th, 2008
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I posted the article "WVU study: Coal counties have higher disease rates" in a MySpace group titled "West Virginia University.... Where Greatness Is Learned... and Couches are Burned." It goes on to describe the group as "a group for all you die hard mountaineer fans and wanna keep up the over 30 year old couch burning tradition!" Granted this group is mostly intened for things realted to WVU Sports, but not all of the topics pretained to sports. That being said, I figured it would be a good place to post things that are WU related.
Here is the conversation that followed....
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Ray - (Male 40 years old STOLLINGS, West Virginia) - What do I think? I think we burn couches and we burn coal! If you don't like that than hold your breath. Now take your stupid hippie political spam and get off our sports group!
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CRMW - Spam? This study was conducted by WVU! Political? This is a news article, not exactly political.
I can guarantee that no one is going to hold their breath for the likes of you. I suppose you'd like for people to shut up and keep drinking poisoned water and breathing contaminated air too, huh?
Maybe you should read on... Here is part 2 of that article....
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200803250137
CRMW - Here is another article in relation to the first. For people who think that other people have the right to read the news... especially, in this group, when it is related to WVU
http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/Op-EdCommentaries/200803250151
CRMW - Oh, and I can't forget this one from WV PBS .....
Coal pollution and diseases linked in WVU study
http://wvpubcastnews.files.wordpress.com
http://wvpubcastnews.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/coalpollutionanddisease.doc
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Ray - (Male 40 years old STOLLINGS, West Virginia) - You keep talking and all I hear is BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH BLAH. I promise you have absolutely no idea what real polution is. I have memories from my childhood that would smother your brain.
I grew up in Pittsburgh during the 1970's before there was any polution controls. In steel valley the smog was so heavy I remember most days that you couldn't see across the Mon river. My father would have to take a second shirt to work because his first one was yellow by lunchtime. There was no fising because the rivers were dead and I mean completely dead. Giant tubes poured a constant flow of raw sludge into the river at all the mills. Every building in town was coated in black soot and the place reaked of sulphur. Amazingly enough we all somehow managed to live through it.
As for your rock and coal dust. Go visit any farming state during the planting season and see if you don't choke on all the dust, dirt and manure being plowed into the air. Or visit florida during the sugar harvest when fields are burned and smoke blankets the whole state. Would you suggest we don't farm anymore?
The issue of coal dust is paltry at best. How about this, why don't our fellow Mountaineers stop polluting their bodies with cigarettes, snuff, chewing tobacco, booze, beer, pain pills and fried foods. Maybe then the health problem wouldn't seem so extreme. Until you accomplish that first, spare us the drama of "The coal dust problem". Coal and timber is the only reason we have communities here. If you don't believe that go to McDowell county where the coal is mined out and see just how many people are left. So if you don't like all the coal dust you are free to leave at anytime. I'm sure sooner would be better.
BTW, constantly cutting and pasting everyone elses articles, essays, editorials, research and rants is FORUM SPAM! Generally not worthly of discussion.
Lastly. People from WVU who burn couches care about two things, football and basketball, in that order.
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CRMW - Your attempt to diminish this dialogue to a simple debate of coal dust is feeble. Paltry indeed. There are so many other aspects to the situation at hand. Coal dust is not our main complaint. It is a problem, but not the largest and definitely not the only. The articles I posted highlight this particular subject, but by no means defines the entire situation that exists in the coalfields.
There are people here in the coalfields of southern WV that turn on their faucets and their water comes out contaminated with pollutants. Check out this video...
toxic water cute little kids west virginia
In in some cases the water is so contaminated it comes out black.
There are too many people here that suffer unexplainable diseases. Too many people that have been displaced from their homes, their land, their heritage, and their history.
This isn't all about coal for us. Mountaintop Removal is our primary concern and its affect on the people and the environment.
The overall situation is about so much more than just jobs and trees. This is about all of the people of Appalachia. The situation speaks directly to the heart of what it means to be an Appalachian American. Directly to the heart of what it means to be a MOUNTAINeer. It is a call of dire need to the progression and preservation of Appalachia. The people, the culture, and all that is beautiful and wild in these ancient hills of our home.
This is about the preservation to our quality of life. The God given right to exist and live in a pollution free environment. All anyone is asking is to not be poisoned. To not be exposed to toxic and dangerous materials in our water, air, and earth. To not be destroyed in the wake of new, cheap, destructive, irresponsible acts of maliciousness against our homeland. To not be subjected to known negligence, carelessness, and deliberate acts intentional harm in the name of corporate profit!
Now, for your comment "if you don't like all the coal dust you are free to leave at anytime." I'm sure that seems like a plausible argument in your mind. What you don't understand is the exact thing that you ask. What would you do if someone threatened to destroy your home. Are you the type of person who would just move out of town, to give up on all that you know and are, to throw your hands up in the air and say "oh well, there is nothing I can do." I hope this is not the type of person you are, but maybe you are. I don't know. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are type of person who would say "Hell no! You are not taking my home, my land, my history."
Most of the people that live here in the coal river valley are descendants of the legacy of coal. I am. A lot of my family were coal miners. My family and many other families here in the coalfields can trace there lineage back for many generations. Some of us for hundreds of years. I'd be interested in asking your father why he never left Pittsburgh in the 1970's.
You said, "Coal and timber is the only reason we have communities here. If you don't believe that go to McDowell county where the coal is mined out and see just how many people are left." Do you not see how this statement contradict it's self? What has happened in McDowell county is a direct result of those industries. Surely you are not under the illusion that the two are not connected. The people of McDowell county were forced out in the name of so called "progress."
You are right to insinuate that these industries have been the foundation of a lot of areas in Appalachia. No one is disputing that. That is true. They are not the only things that have kept the ball spinning, but they have been key players.
Still, I urge you to envision a new day for Appalachia. An Appalachia that is still a major supplier of America's energy. An Appalachia that got itself together, turned itself around, and transitioned itself into something unprecedented. An Appalachia that admits its faults aside from the just pursuit of employment and becomes a key player in battling the climate crisis for the sake, safety, security, continuation, and preservation of life for all of mankind.
An Appalachia that lives up to a spirit that is truly pioneering, mountaineering, and Appalachian.
Mountain ridges are prime real estate potential to host wind farms. There was a study conducted recently proving that here the Coal River Mountain range has the potential to host a wind farm capable of powering 90, 000 homes. FOREVER! One Mountain Range. Renewable energy. An infinite resource. Solar is capable anywhere. I read an article recently that said, "We have a cheap, abundant source of renewable energy. The solution rises everyday." Let me repeat that .... "THE SOLUTION RISES EVERYDAY!"
The sun. Another INFINITE resource. These ideas are not just a possible dream. They are the key to unlocking our continued existence. Instead of bullheadedly denying these truths, clinging to paths of the past, and dooming us all to a most certain demise.
I ask you to try and hear past your "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH" filter and connect some of the dots. You obviously have experience dealing with a contaminated environment. I agree, the situation you describe is unthinkable, unreasonable. No one should have ever had to endure its measure. Thank God that the world is waking to realize that we cannot go on carelessly disposing of our waste and contaminants. ANY COUNTRY, ECONOMY, COMMUNITY, etc., BASED ON A FINITE RESOURCE IS DOOMED TO FAIL. History has proven that time and time again.
While I respect and appreciate you comments on the situation of the 1970's in Pittsburgh, we both know that times of tolerating such blatantly dangerous working conditions and environments is a thing of the past. A thing of the past for good reason. This reason: Pollution is bad and should not be accepted as a cheap means of disposal to create an increased profit margin. Not then, not now, not ever.
"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind..... "
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(continued)
Ray - (Male 40 years old STOLLINGS, West Virginia) - Suddenly I realized the humor in your hypocrisy. As you rant on about the evils of coal and the damage it does to the enviroment you continue to burn the very electricity that you rebuke. Not to mention the computer you are using is constructed of copper, silver, lead, gold and petroleum products. All of which is mined or extracted out of the ground and refined by industry. Of course that's OK with you though, after all those mines aren't in your backyard. But, I digress.
Ray - (Male 40 years old STOLLINGS, West Virginia) - If you want to see a realistic solution go here...
www.pacwind.net
This is actually what I am considering for my own house.
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CRMW - Man, now you are just being silly. How do you know that I am not typing this from a computer powered by solar energy? How do you know that I don't already get my power from the wind? How do you know that I don't get my power from some other sort of eco-friendly source. You don't. You make a lot of assumptions, my friend.
The truth of the matter is we do have computers powered by the sun.
Who said any of those other things are OK with me? I know I didn't. There you go with those assumptions again. I have to tell you, all of your assumptions are making me lose interest in what you have to say. You obviously seem to think that you know what I am going to have to say about such matters. So much, in fact, to say so in my favor.
Please sir, don't put words in my mouth. You might want to question my stance on such a thing before you state it to be the truth.
I must say, you are right when you say "copper, silver, lead, gold and petroleum products... those mines aren't in your backyard." You are right about that. They are not in my backyard. If they were, we MIGHT be discussing those. It all depends on a hypothetical situation doesn't it? Which leads me to my next point...
Here is another assumption you did not state, but obviously made. As I told you in my previous response (which you obviously did not read carefully enough) MTR is our main concern. MTR is one of the many ways that coal is mined. You, like so many others fail to see to the degrees and fractions that this issue is so truly broken into. There is a right way and a wrong way to mine coal. Still, it seems as if all you heard was "coal... environment... wind... solar..." and proceeded to ASSUME I was "rant(ing) about the evils of coal." I'm assuming that you assumed, but hey, you started it.
Do you live in the coal fields? Were you raised there? Do you have family there? Are you a coal miner? Have you ever even been to any of these places? Do you have an relation to any of the things we are discussing? Any affliction or investment of some kind? Somewhere from which your stance is rooted in this discussion? Just curious.
Here is the major flaw with your response, you failed to assume that maybe I could be completely "off the grid." You did not assume that I could be 100% energy independent. With all of those assumptions, how did you miss that? Could it be you were so wrapped up in an absurd attempt at being humorous that you forgot to consider ALL of the possibilities? Just like you forgot to assume that I might get my electricity from something other than coal.
I just want to say that I wouldn't classify my previous response as a rant. Did you even read my response? I THOUGHT SURELY THAT IF YOU RESPONDED YOU MIGHT REFERENCE AT LEAST ONE POINT FROM WHAT I HAD TO SAY, BUT YOU DIDN'T. In fact, it seems you simply decided to continue where you left off from your last comment. If I had to guess, I'd say you probably didn't even bother. Forgive me for making another assumption. It just seems like such a safe bet with you now.
For the record, I don't rebuke electricity. Seeing as how you referred me to wind energy product I know this won't come as a complete surprise, not all electricity comes from coal.
Last, but not least, thanks for the link. I had not yet seen that particular device. Others here had, but I had not. I commend you for your consideration of adding wind to your energy sources. Good choice man ...
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CRMW - I just wanted to add this ...
The wind farm study I mentioned earlier, you know, when I said "the Coal River Mountain range has the potential to host a wind farm capable of powering 90, 000 homes."
I was just looking over the updated info in the proposal and the calculated potential is power for around 200, 000 homes!
Can you believe that!?!!? 200, 000 homes supplied with a sustainable energy source.
Wow!
Now that, my friends, is what I am talking about!