BRINGING DOWN THE MOUNTAINS: THE IMPACT OF MOUTAINTOP REMOVAL SURFACE COAL MINING ON SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA COMMUNITIES

Acknowledgments

xiii Acknowledgments This work is the culmination of years of research, both personally and professionally. There are a number of people to thank. My dissertation members at West Virginia University provided valuable input on the earliest draft of this work, which appeared as my doctoral dissertation. A continuing thanks is offered to all of them: Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Roger Lohmann, Greg Good (who gave me the idea for the title to chapter 6), and John Hennen. I especially want to acknowledge Ronald Lewis who gave so much input to my dissertation and always provided good advice. In addition to these educators, I also want to thank the following excellent teachers, in the order they appeared in my life, all of whom had an important influence on me through their encouragement and professionalism . Thanks to Rebecca Lubonia, Linda Boggs, Edna Jo Bailey, John Harris , Paul Blankenship, Jeanette Toler, Betty Cook, Camy Crouse, and Dr. Robert Ours. I also would like to thank Sara Pritchard, Stacey Elza, Than Saffel, Rachel Rosolina, and Patrick Conner with the West Virginia University Press for their professionalism and enthusiasm in the production of this book. While researching this book, I met a number of people struggling on a daily basis with the realities of mountaintop removal (MTR). The persistent courage and dedication of these individuals, who face unimaginable circumstances with a passion for and a devotion to their homes and communities , is an inspiration. I was first inspired by the forthright eloquence of Carlos Gore who stated simply and with passion what MTR had cost him and his community. He remains one of the best speakers I have ever heard on the devastation of MTR. Later, it was my extreme privilege to talk with some of the women battling MTR in their own backyards, in- BRINGING DOWNTHE MOUNTAINS xiv cluding Judy Bonds, Patty Sebok, and Frieda Williams. I was immensely impressed with Mary Miller and Pauline Canterberry. Even while battling the MTR in their communities, they remain joyful and hopeful, and they somehow maintain wonderful senses of humor. They continue battling MTR devastation at a time in life when most people have retired and are set to relax. May we all grow to be as dedicated and feisty as these two, “the dustbusters.” Matthew Burns, my husband, has been selfless and completely supportive as I have changed this work from a dissertation to a book. He has read all versions of this work from beginning to end, including this final version, providing valuable feedback along the way. A better research assistant and more understanding partner is not to be found. He not only kept me moving forward with this project, but also assured my sanity by making me focus on other things when I needed it most. I would like to give special thanks to Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition for the use of numerous photographs. I also would like to thank Mark Schmerling of Schmerling Photography for the use of his stark, beautiful photographs of southern West Virginia. I am honored to include their works in this book. Thanks to all of my friends and family who have listened over the years to numerous stories of mountaintop removal, coal, more coal, and home, especially Christina Bailey and Connie Park Rice who patiently listened to numerous ideas over the course of this writing. In addition, I would like to thank my in-laws, Jake, Linda, and Jason Burns and my friends Copper Stewart, Lonnie Williams, Denise Ferguson, Amy and Tim Daniels, Tammy Brown, Kim Harrison, Teresa Stone, Carletta Bush, Lou Orslene, Greg Wimer, Kim Cordingly, George Demanelis, and Tom Freeman whose friendship and patience with my coal stories has always been greatly appreciated . I come from a long line of underground coal miners, and I have always been proud of my family and its coal mining roots. Coming of age in Wyoming County, West Virginia, at a time when the mines were first booming there, both of my grandfathers, Gillis Stewart and Dave McKinney, toiled underground to support their families. I never met my grandpaw Gillis, who died at forty-two of black lung disease, but he cast a long shadow of decency and humility on his family. Grandpaw Dave had large, work- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv calloused hands, typical of a man who had worked decades in the mines. He had a love of horses and was better suited for farming, but...