Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed: Appalachian Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice

Notes

notes Introduction 1. Composed of southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, and eastern Tennessee, Central Appalachia is one of the primary coal-producing areas in the United States. 2. More than 1 million acres of land and over 500 mountains have been destroyed by mountaintop-removal coal mining in this region (Geredien 2009), and residents must contend with devastating floods, well-water contamination, coal slurry impoundment breaches, unsafe road conditions, air pollution, ecosystem destruction, and elevated rates of cancer, chronic illnesses, birth defects, and mortality due to coal industry practices (Flood Advisory Technical Taskforce 2002; Orem 2006; United States Environmental Protection Agency 2005; Erikson 1976; Scott et al. 2005; Bell 2010; Bell and York 2010; Bell and Braun 2010; Palmer et al. 2010; Hendryx, Ahern and Nurkiewicz 2007; Hendryx 2008; Hendryx and Ahern 2008; Ahern and Hendryx 2008). 3. Environmental justice movements differ from mainstream environmental movements in their attention to issues of social justice. Rather than focusing only on the preservation of nature in itself, environmental justice movements seek social justice for people who live, work, play, and learn in the most polluted environments in the world (Cole and Foster 2001). 4. Judy Bonds passed away from cancer on January 3, 2011. 5. However, do see Bell and Braun (2010) and Barry (2012). 6. While the anti-mountaintop-removal mining movement has scaled up tremendously , there is still quite a ways to go before reaching the goals of these grassroots organizations. As Betsy Taylor has reminded me, the scaling-up process has been unpredictable and could easily collapse, given the history of national disinterest and “othering” of Appalachia. See Reid (1996) for a discussion of the cycles of national disinterest and rediscovering of Appalachia, and see Anglin (1992); Billings, Norman , and Ledford (1999); Reid and Taylor (2010); and Scott (2010) for thorough discussions of Appalachian “othering.” Furthermore, there are entrenched power structures within Appalachia that pose tremendous barriers to the movement. For more exploration of these, see Gaventa (1980), Eller (2008), Reid (1996), and Bell (2010). 7. These interviews are also part of the dataset used in Bell and Braun 2010 (described below). 8. Bell, Shannon Elizabeth (Ed). Through Their Eyes, In Their Words: Forty Women Telling the Story of Their Home: The Southern West Virginia Photovoice Project. Charleston , West Virginia: Photographic Production Services. 9. However, see Cable 1992 for an important exception to this trend. 10. These are the same twelve women in this book. Chapter 2. “We Became Two Determined Women” 1. The reader may notice occasionally throughout these narratives the use of the singular “a” with the plural “mines” (“a mines” or “an underground mines”). This is a common speechway throughout parts of Central Appalachia, so when it was said in this way, I did not change it. (Although, it’s also worth noting that the same person sometimes switches back and forth between saying “a mines” and “a mine” during the same interview.) 2. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Chapter 4. “You Gotta Go and Do Everything You Can—FIGHT for Your Kids” 1. Larry Gibson was a well-known activist in West Virginia who fought tirelessly against mountaintop-removal mining. He lived on Kayford Mountain, which has belonged to his family for many generations. The mountain is surrounded on all sides by mountaintop-removal mining operations. Larry started the Keepers of the Mountains Foundation and turned Kayford Mountain into an educational site, inviting visitors to witness for themselves the ravages of the coal industry. Sadly, Larry passed away from a heart attack on September 9, 2012. Chapter 5. “It’s Just a Part of Who I Am” 1. Drawing on research by Loo et al. (2003), which found evidence that manganese in drinking water attracts the cavity-causing bacteria Streptococcus gordonii, Walker and Payne (2012) suggest that the high concentrations of manganese in coal slurry (Stout and Paipillo 2004) may contribute to the high rates of tooth decay in the 192 notes to introduction and chapters 2 and 4–5 coal-mining region of Central Appalachia. Thus, coal-slurry contamination in Prenter could explain the tooth decay problems that Maria describes. Chapter 7. “I’m Not Going to Be Run Out, I’m Not Going to Be Run Over, I’m Not Going Out without a Fight” 1. Patty describes this incident below. An adult brother and sister were killed in Hernshaw when a coal truck hauling more than twice...