Michael Hendryx expands on coal mining study

by: Clem Guttata

Tue Jun 23, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM EDT

As an academic researcher, I am trained to be cautious in the conclusions that I make.   Strictly speaking, I can't say with 100% guarantee what coal mining towns would be like if coal were not there.   Coal IS there.   But it seems very likely that these towns would be like other WV towns that don't have coal - and those towns have higher incomes, less poverty, less unemployment, and lower death rates.   I am very confident, as confident as a researcher can be, that coal mining is a contributing factor to poor economic conditions and premature motrality.

On coal burning...

I also focused only on coal mining, not burning coal in power plants. Burning coal to create power has large economic benefit, but also large economic costs because pollution from coal burning kills more people than coal mining. I deliberately limited the analysis to coal mining so the Appalachian people and governments could consider whether our reliance on coal mining for the economy was a good idea or not.

What alternatives does he recommend?

I wouldn't rely on tourism, although that could be a partial strategy in some places. One reason I wouldn't rely on it is because tourism depends on cheap gas, and even though gas prices are temporalily down, they will be going up again as gas supplies dwindle. I think we need to consider a mix of solutions including ecosystem restoration, sustainable timber, small agriculture, development of renewable energy like hydro and wind, and investments in entrepreneurial ventures. We also need greater basic investment in education.

This is a critical discussion for the future of West Virginia. As he says:

In the past, the argument has been "environment versus jobs", that we need coal mining because of the jobs that it creates. But I think this research challenges that, and maybe politicians will begin to see that we can have a better economy if we work to create a more diverse economy that does not depend on coal.

In that regard, this is a more than a little bit concerning:

I have received feedback and interest from some federal policymakers, but no one in the state has asked me directly for any input or direction. That has been disappointing. And its one reason why I wanted to focus on the economic impacts. I will be trying to get this information more in the eyes of state policymakers in the months to come.

As I've stated before, there are strong economic arguments to change how we mine coal. We should be doing everything possible to diversify the West Virginia economy and end our reliance on King Coal.