Governor Manchin's "Extraction State" now has the saddest state song of all.

Heartbreaking (4.00 / 2)

Just heartbreaking.

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 12:31:37 PM UTC

hard to watch (4.00 / 1)

This is really difficult to watch.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 15:22:34 PM UTC

oh spare me (0.00 / 0)

certainly its unattractive but it is necessary...moreover it is NOT representative of how the rest of west virginia looks...hell 10 percent of the state is federal or state park land...thats 1.5 million acres...when coupled with the rest of the state which has no merchantable and minable coal and therefore wont be touched, your pictures reflect a small portion of the state...be real

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by: stevewvu @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 17:50:33 PM UTC

How is it necessary? (4.00 / 1)

Coal companies have said they could extract the coal through other means?

The guy who complains about a piece of litter on the highway has no problem with huge swaths of mountain destroyed. Please.

When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it. Sherlock Holmes.

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by: Carnacki @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 19:20:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

umm no (0.00 / 0)

it is necessary to get to low coal or coal without sufficiently stable overburden to support deep mines

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by: stevewvu @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 20:04:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Stevewvu that's a flat-out lie, and you know it. (0.00 / 0)

Otherwise Bush wouldn't have opened up the overburden limitations to blast away 600 to 800 vertical feet of mountains.

For example it wasn't "low coal" and it wasn't because of "insufficiently stable overburden" when they started quarry mining at Cannelton after closing it down while it was still one of the best producing deep mines in Appalachia!

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by: One Citizen @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 20:15:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Stevewvu, can you provide us with any data regarding the total area of water poisoned? (4.00 / 2)

And while you're at it, please reveal the number of people estimated by your beloved industry to have been physically harmed by the blatant and irreversible pollution caused by the surface mine industry.

Stevewvu, since you're obviously a coal industry spokesman, perhaps you can provide us with the amount of tax it will cost every West Virginian to run "city water" to all the rural homes which now have water polluted by toxic coal slurry, unleashed into the aquifer due to blasting at surface mine sites. And while you're at it, could you please give us an estimate as to the percentage of coal extracted by deep mines as compared to coal from surface mines? By the way, how about quoting your sources just this once?

In other words, since YOU think surface mining in WV is "necessary", shouldn't you at least list some reasons to believe you?  Because like many, many other West Virginians, I believe that surface mining is "necessary" only for a few rich mine operators and a handful of subcontractors who mostly live outside of West Virginia.

By the way, Google Earth has a really good display of the wanton destruction done to Appalachia through this link

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by: One Citizen @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 19:56:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

i live (0.00 / 0)

in the coal river watershed....my well water has sulfer in it and it has nothing to do with mining...some water is just bad....lol on the subcontractor comment, too...you really dont know the industry do you?..

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by: stevewvu @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 20:10:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

As for the sulfur in your well, you haven't proved a thing (4.00 / 2)

And because your other comments regarding surface mining have been misleading to the point of disgusting lies, we all know that you're not to be trusted without seeing your source.

Furthermore, regarding my outside contractor comment, you know damned well that I've figured out your beloved coal industry tricks far better than you'd like for me to.

You need to get some numbers together, pal. Otherwise you keep coming off as just another self-serving profiteer who is parked here just to cash in by causing your neighbors misery.

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by: One Citizen @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 20:30:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]