death of a mountain

20 Pages·2007·7.27 MB·English

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DEATH OF
A MOUNTAIN
Radical strip mining and the leveling of Appalachia
By Erik Reece
September 13,zo03, Lost Mountain and sent crashing down the ridgeside.Buteven
without the tower's perspective, looking offto
LookhardandyoucanfindLostMountain in the north Ican seethousands ofacres-former
grid71,coordinateB-10oftheKentucky At- summits-that have been flattened by moun-
las&Gazetteer. According tothar topolog- taintop mining. Where once there werejagged,
icalmap, the summit rises1,847feet above Lost forested ridgelines, now there isonly aseriesof
Creek, whose head- plateaus, staggered
.waterscometolifeon gray shelves where
the mountain's north grassstrugglestogrow
face. This morning I in crushed rock and
left the bluegrass re- shale. When visitors
gion of central Ken- to eastern Kentucky
tucky,whereIlive,and firstseethe effectsof
drove east along the this kind of mining,
Mountain Parkway, they often say the
where the last of the landscape looks like
rollinggrasslands,dot- the Southwest-a
tedwithblacktobacco harsh tableland inter-
barns,finallygivesway ruptedbysteepmesas.
to the Cumberland I, too, have traveled
Plateau, the foothills through Arizona and
ofwhichmaybethe oldestmountain rangeinthe NewMexicointhe latespringwhenocotilloand
world, the Appalachians. From there, a narrow Indian paintbrush are in bloom, and I under-
two-lane road follows the meanderings of Lost stand the allureofthat harsh landscape. Butthis
Creek, sonamed becausehunters frequently lost is not the desert Southwest; it is an eastern
theirbearingswhentheyventured toofarfromthe broadleaf forest.At least itshould be.
stream itself.When the blacktop ends,Inavigate There wasa time in this region when union
anoldloggingroadthat windsupandaroundLost minerswouldhaveextracted thecoalthat liesbe-
Mountain, ending at its peak. I set the parking neath LostMountain withhand picksandshov-
brakeonmytruckandgetouttotakealookaround. els in deep underground shafts. But twenty-six
1notice that afiretower standing here ayear years after Jimmy Carter signed into law the
agohas been blown or torn from itsfoundation Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
ErikReece teacheswritingattheUniversity ofKentucky and iscompletingabookon stripmining inAppalachia.
Photograph ©John J.Cox/Songdog Photography FOLIO 41
(SMCRA), the coal industry has developed vacationing in Belize and other points south.
much more expedient and much more destruc- Given time, one hundred years or so, oaks,
tive methods of mining. Instead of excavating beeches, and hickories would come to dominate
the contour of a ridge side, as strip miners did this transitional forest. Three different commu-
throughout the 1960s and '70s, now entire nities of highly diverse trees would eventually
mountaintops are blasted off, and almost every- agree on a silent charter about how best to in-
thing that isn't coal is pushed down into the habit these elevations. But that's not going to
valleys below. As a result, the Environmental happen here.
Protection Agency.estimates that more than Iwander on down the ridge. Without thinking,
700 miles of healthy streams have been buried I begin to follow the moist furrow of an inter-
mittent stream. A lacework oftributaries feeds the
I lower creeks, but they flow only during wetter
have come to Lost Mountain becauselast
periods. I step around moss-covered cobble and
month Leslie Resources,Inc. was granted maidenhair ferns that grow in the shape ofdeli-
cate tiaras. Colonies ofliverwort cover some ofthe
a statepermit to mine this ridgeline
rocks like small, green scallops. These modest-
looking organisms carryon pretty fascinating sex
lives: The liverwort needs rain to spawn. And
by mountaintop removal-some saythe number its preferred habitat seems to be these rain-
is twice that-and hundreds more have been catching, intermittent streams. During a down-
s',".(\\ damaged. Blasting on the mine sites has cracked pour, the male liverwort extends a tiny, umbrel-
the foundations of nearby homes and polluted la-shaped antenna. When a drop of rain hits it,
I hundreds of family wells. Creeks run orange sperm explodes inside that raindrop and bounces
with sulfuric acid and heavy metals. Wildlife acouple offeet, where with any luck afemale liv-
: " t\\ populations have been summarily dispersed. An erwort has sent up alittle umbrella ofher own to
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i\\\ \\ entire ecosystem has been dismantled. catch the sperm-laden droplets.
II i•\'\\ \\ I have come to Lost Mountain because in Inthis waythe unassuming liverwort dramatizes
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February Leslie Resources Inc. was granted a one of the issues at the heart of mountaintop re-
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4."\I,: ,I state permit to mine this ridgeline. Icame here moval. In response to the charge that such min-
to see what an eastern mountain looks like be- ingmethods buryhundreds ofcentral Appalachian
fore, during, and after its transformation into a streams, Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky
western desert. Coal Association, isquick to point out that an in-
termittent stream, such as this one, isnot really
astream at all, because there are no fish in it.Ac-
October 25, 2003,Lost Mountain cording to this line of thought, ifsomething like
Before mining starts on Lost Mountain, I the liverwort isofno immediate and obvious use
hike up the old logging road that winds to to us,then it isofno use at all. That modest flo-
the summit. At one muddy wheel rut, I ra like liverwort help hold rich soil in place, pu-
stop to sketch the tracks of adeer, a fox, a rac- rify water downstream, and provide habitat to
coon, and awild turkey. Then Idrop down into other small animals such assalamanders-or that
the forest proper, the watershed that feeds Lost they even hold an intrinsic value beyond what we
Creek. After extricating myself from a black- might understand today-is a logic to which
berry thicket, Iclimb noisily over abarricade of Homo sapiens americanus seems curiously immune.
fallen tree limbs. A crow warns a white-tailed When I reach the mouth of the intermittent
deer of my approach, and the doe hoofs it up stream, I follow Lost Creek until I can ·see no
over the ridgetop. When she isgone; 1find my- signs of human intervention, not even the in-
self standing beneath an austere canopy of tulip evitable BudLight can. Isitdown on the bank, be-
poplars. This isKentucky's state tree, and itgrows neath the yellow glow of beeches and maples.
asstraight asaflagpole. Daniel Boone once hol- Dark water glistens in the shallows below. Squir-
lowed out asixty-foot canoe from asingle tulip rels rustle through the leaves. Trees decay where
poplar and packed his family down the Ohio they have fallen, providing shelter and food. A
River in it. The tulip tree isalso one ofthe first Carolina wren hops among the tangled branches.
hardwoods to establish dominance after a de- These daysitisthought unfashionable, even back-
ciduous forest has been cleared by fire, a blow- ward, to talk about laws ofnature orto read aphi-
down, or,in this case, the chain sawsthat chewed losophy, amorality, into the workings of the nat-
through here about forty years ago. These poplars ural world. For 4,000 years, theologians and
have already lost their leaves, and sunlight fills philosophers have debated whether an Intelli-
the understory ofyounger sassafrases, hickories, gent Designer stands behind itall. Ihave nothing
and sugar maples. The woods are quiet except for to contribute to that discussion. But this much
apileated woodpecker; the songbirds are already seems clear: this forest certainly demonstrates an
42 HARPER'S MAGAZINE /APRIL 2005
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intelligence, oneithasbeenhoning for290million dozer,with itshugecrescent blade,slowlypush-
years.Itseconomyisaclosedloopthat transforms es the other piles down into the fire. And al-
wasteinto food.Inthat alone itissuperiortoour though asustainable, value-added timber indus-
human economy,wheretheendofthe lineisnot try isthe region's most promising alternative to
nutrients butrathertoxicindustrialwaste.Isthere coal, this coal company, and many others, don't
design behind thisnatural intelligence? Ihave no even bother tosavethe timber they docut.
idea.ButIwillventure this:The
forest knows what it's doing.
Compare the two economies:
the forest's and ours. The sulfur
dioxide that escapes from coal-
burning powerplants isresponsi-
ble for acid rain, smog, respira-
toryinfections, asthma, and lung
disease. Due to acid rain and
mine runoff, there is so much
mercuryinKentuckystreamsthat
any pregnant woman who eats
fishfromthem risksserious,life-
long harm to the fetus she car-
ries.And thisyear,thanks inlarge
part to coal burning, climatolo-
gistsfound record-high levels of
climate-altering carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere. A forest, by
contrast, can store twenty times
more carbon than croplands or
pastures. Itsleaflitter slowsero-
sion and adds organic matter to
thesoil.Itsdensevegetationstops
flooding. Its headwater streams
purify creeks below it. A con-
tiguousforestensures speciesdi-
versity.A forest, in short, does allofthe things On the next ridgeover,another dozerispush-
that the miningandburningofcoalcannot-that ingboulders out ofthe wayto carve ahaul road
isitsintelligence. forthe coal trucks.All around methere isnoth-
ing but rock, smoke, and ravaged soil. Then I
see standing a few feet away a single green
November 4, 2003,Lost Mountain seedling, shooting out a dozen small branches.
This morning Icast myvote for the Ken- Somehow the dozermissedit,andnowtheentire
tucky gubernatorial candidate who ac- emptinessoftheslopegathersaroundthisseedling
cepted the fewestcontributions fromthe likean unbearable presence, aghost forest.
coalindustry.Now,drivingupthe muddyswitch- And not just any forest. What heightens the
backsofLostMountain, Ican seeathin column tragedyofsurfacemining incentral Appalachia
of gray smoke rising over the next ridge. As I isthat the chain sawsand dozersare stripping
round a bend near the summit, the forest falls awaythe oldestandmostdiverseforestsinNorth
away below my drivers-side window. I am not America. A million years ago, the Pleistocene
speaking figuratively. The trees that lined the glaciersforcednorthern treestomigratesouth.But
leftsideofthisroadtwoweeksago,and that held the glaciers never reached this part of the Ap-
in place the southern slope of Lost Mountain, palachians, and when the massive icesheets fi-
aregone. Stumps line the road. Downbelow,all nally retreated, they left in their wake a land-
ofthegroundcoverand topsoilhasbeenchurned scapethat lookedmuch likeamodem stripmine.
under-"grubbed"-by D-9bulldozers.Nothing Consequently, over hundreds of thousands of
but mud, rock, and fallen treesremains. years,the Appalachians wereresponsible forre-
Iparkmytruck out ofsightofthe workersbe- foresting North America. But no other forest
low and sit down on one of the stumps. This ever achieved its diversity of tree species. The
mountainside has been scalped; the trees that forests of Appalachia are called "mixed meso-
covered it now liein massivepilesalldown the phytic," becausethey inhabit a"middle"climate
slope.Aburningpyreliesatthebottom,andahaze andbecausethecanopycomprisesanastonishing
ofsmokefillsthis concave southern valley.One numberofmaturetrees,withnoonespeciesdom-
Photograph ©Mike Smith FOLIO 43 )r.;
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inating. They remain the continent's seedbed, Coal operators could stillfillupto2S0acresofa
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itsmother lode.Now the industrialequivalent of watershedwith therubblethat wasonce amoun-
an iceageglacierwillsoonscourLostMountain, taintop. Mine sites could still leach toxic acids'
V e.:: and the hopes ofanykind offorestwillbegone. into creekswheresmallvalleycommunities once
Backat home three hours later, Iturn on the performed baptisms.
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election results.Mycandidate has been soundly
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beaten.
December 17,2003,Lost Mountain
InApril 2000,the Martin County Coal Cor- Overthe yearsI'veheard numerous stories
poration askedthe ArmyCorpsofEngineers aboutdo-goodersanddocumentary film-
forapermittocreatetwenty-sevenvalleyfills makerswho setouttoinspectastripmine
from surface mining near Inez, Kentucky. Al- onlytofindthemselvesconfronted withthe blade
though the fillwouldburymorethan sixmilesof ofaD-9dozer,raisedtowindshieldlevelandbear-
streamsinthecounty, theCorpsgranted the per- ingdown fastupon them. Idecided not toshow
mit request. The EPA immediatelystepped in mywifethe article in this morning's paper about
and urgedthe Corpstoreconsider authorization. astate surface-mine inspector whodiedafterbe-
The EPAargued that "the discharges offillma- ingfoundbeatenandunconsciousinhishome,his
terial authorized for this project present an im- bodymutilated byhuman bite marks. But Ialso
minent danger of irreparable harm to wildlife can't quiteshakethat image,soI'vedecidedtofol-
and recreational areas."The Corps, however, re- Iowa lessconspicuous roadthat leadsaround the
fusedtosuspendMCCC's permit, and bythe end backsideofLostMountain, through asmallcom-
ofsummer 2001 the valleyfillshad begun. munity called Harveytown.
Then in August, Kentuckians for the Com- Christmas lightsoutline the trailers and small
monwealthfiledafederallawsuitagainsttheArmy clapboard housesthat areclustered tightly atthe
CorpsofEngineers,askingthecourttosuspendthe creekside,asifgravity itselfhad setthem there.
permit. They argued that the Clean Water Act, The western side of the mountain shows fewer
which allows only for clean "fill,"not "waste," scarsfromlogging,'andaseriesofsandstone out-
prevented debrisfrommountaintop mining tobe cropsstretches along the ridgeline, providing vi-
disposedofinU.S. waters.In Mayof2002,with talshelter to smaller animals, including the en-
adecision inthe lawsuitstillpending, the Corps dangered wood rat. This unfortunately named
issueda new regulation under the Clean Water rodent is actually quite handsome, with large
Act todefine"fill"asanydebriscreated bymin- eyesand long whiskers. Americans particularly
ing. U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden im- shouldfeelan affinityforthis rapaciouscollector
mediately rejected that change, countering that ofbaubles. Ifsomething shines-a. pieceofglass,
"onlythe United States Congresscanrewritethe aluminum foil, a shotgun shell-the wood rat
Act to,allowfillswith no purposeor usebut the takes it home. He piles the loot just outside his
depositofwaste."Haden alsoruledthat spoilfrom nest,whichsitsbackinanarrowrockcrevice.No
mountaintop mining was clearly waste, which one knows why.Perhaps he just wants a bigger
couldnot bedeposited instreams.JudgeHaden's midden pile than the wood rat living next door.
decision had the potential toshut down massive All through Appalachia, woodrats areon the
strip-mining operations throughout the coalfields decline. A parasitic roundworm has decimated
ofAppalachia, but byJanuary 2003 the conser- much ofthe population, and the forestfragmen-
vativeU.S. Fourth Circuit Court hadoverturned tation caused bystrip mining-the creation of
Haden's decsision, and in Mayofthat year,the smaller woodlots with an increased circumfer-
DraftProgrammaticEnvironmental ImpactState- ence-has madeitmuch easierforfoxesandbob-
ment (EIS)wasreleased.Itsfindingsandpropos- cats to prey upon/them. Strip mining isalso a
alshaveoccasionedthe latestroundofarguments leading cause ofspecies extinction. This Cum-
about coal and conservation. berland Plateau isone particular "hot spot" of
The S,OOO-pagedocument admitted that ecological concern because twothirds ofitsbird
mountaintop removalisbad,andfortheusualrea- population isalso indecline.
sons:itburiesheadwater streams,causeserosion Earlier in the fall, I climbed along this same
andflooding,degradeswaterqualitydownstream, ridgeline, going fromone rock formation to an-
killsaquatic life,shakesthe wallsand cracksthe other, looking forevidence ofwood rats. Now,
foundations of nearby homes, and wipes away three months later,I'mclimbing this ridgeagain,
hugeportions ofanextremely diverseecosystem. this time to get a decent, discreet look at the
The solution?The Interior Department proposed mining on the other side. I can already hear
streamlining the mine-permit processand doing large equipment churning. At the ridgetop, I
awaywith the rulethat requiresalOa-foot buffer circle north and crouch under astand ofyoung
zonebetween streamsand mine sites.No limita- trees.Twoenormous backhoes areclawing away
tions on mountaintop removal were proposed. at thesubstrate directlybeneath me.Slowlythey
44 HARPER'S MAGAZINE IAPRIL 2005
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cut a vertical rock wall all along the inside of withthe term"overburden." What isburdened in
this hollow to laythe wideroad that coal trucks thiscaseisthecoalseamdownbelow;overburden
willneed tomaneuver the mountainside. Along istheoak-pine forest,the topsoil,and 200feetof
with bulldozers and graders, they have already sandstonethatstandbetweenthecoaloperatorand --
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cut aquarter-mile road stretching down to the the coal seam. When miners dislodge the over-
highway.Eventuallytheroadwillstretchuptothe burden, itbecomes"spoil."And according to the ---
summit, providing access to the top three coal proposed rule change, the spoil that isdumped
seamsthat liebeneath LostMountain. Buthere, intothevalleysbelowwillnotbe"waste"but"fill."
at mid-elevation, the work has gotten tougher. Streamsarenot buried;rather, valleysarefilled. /
The dozersare no longer shoving aside topsoil; "Reclamation,"however,isthetermthatfinally S
nowtheyarestrugglingwithboulders.They carve puts ussquarely in the realm ofOrwellian slip-
awayasmuchofanopeningastheycanwhilethe knots. Speaking plainly,to reclaim something is
backhoesloadthe loosenedrockontohaultrucks. togetitback.The 1977SurfaceMining Control
When those hugebedsarefull,the trucksbegin and Reclamation Act requires coal operators to Ii
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creeping upamakeshift path toaflatbench near restore the "approximate original contour"
the topofthe mountain. Iwatch through binoc- (AOC) ofthe landtheyhave mined. According
ularsastheybacktothe edgeofthebench. Slow- to the Kentucky Department of Natural Re-
ly,ahydraulic liftraisesthe bed,sending eighty- sources, "The condition of the land after the
fivetonsofbrownsandstoneandgrayslatespilling mining process must be equal to or better than
down the mountainside. pre-mining conditions." Scanning the reclaimed h~
portions ofthe Starfire mine site, Ican seehun-
There isno better place to understand the dreds of acres of rolling savanna, planted with
semiologyofastrip mine than at Goose anexoticlespedeza,oneofthefewgrassesthat will
Pond, afive-acre"reclamation" area that surviveinthisshale. Butinwhat sensedoesasa-
sits in the middle of a massive mountaintop- vanna "approximate" asummit? Inwhat senseis
removal project called the Starfire Mine, in agrasslandmonoculture "equaltoorbetter than"
Breathitt County. One might begin at the top, a mixed rnesophytic forest? The reality isthat
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Diagram byNigel Holmes FOLIO 45
mountains pitched atagradeassteep asthe Ap- at atime. Down inside the pit sitsan explosives
palachianscannot berestored.Gravityandtopog- truck. Itstank reads:THE POWERTO MOVE MOUN-
raphy areworking against you. TAINS.Coal trucksrumblepast on allsidesofthe
Perhaps sensing that the AOC stipulation pond. Highwalls frame the horizon. Butnone of
would be ahard sell,lawmakers added this pro- that matters.Acoalcompanyhasonlytoerectthe
visiontoSMCRA: coaloperatorscouldobtain an flimsytrappingsofatouriststopandtheyhavecon-
"AOC variance" if they could prove that the verted awasteland into an area of "public use."
post-mined land wouldbeput to"higher orbet- Who wouldn't want tofishfortrout inthe shad-
ter uses."In the beginning that meant commer- owofadragline?
cial or residential development. A fewhousing Still, myfavorite part ofGoose Pond isalarge
complexes and even aprisonwerebuilt onthese signthat stands next to the observation deck. It
sites (when the prison watchtowers started to iscovered with pictures of pink lady's slipper,
lean due to subsidence, localsdubbed the facili- large-leavedmagnolia,ruffedgrouse,painted tril-
ty Sink Sink). But there weren't nearly enough lium,spotted salamander, and awood rat, and it
reads, "These are some of the
other wildlifeand plant species
youmayencounter during your
visit." The word "other" addsa
particular absurdity to what is
alreadyanoutrageous lie.All of
the speciespictured areinhabi-
tants ofa deciduous forest, the
likes ofwhich this place won't
beable tosustain forthousands
ofyears.
Coal operators are not
an easily intimidated
bunch. But there is
probably no one in the state of
Kentucky who rattles their
cage like a forty-eight-year-old
~-
-- - grandmother named Teri Blan-
ton. A former chairperson of
Kentuckians for the Common-
D..
wealth, thestate'slargestsocial-
,
justiceorganization,Blanton has
"\.; \ ~"'" spent the lasttwodecadeshelp-
"V ing coalfield residents fight the
al
' corporations that have turned so
much ofeastern Kentucky into
developers clamoring to fill these barren flats whatshecallsatoxicdump.
with stripmallsorapartment complexes. And it One can getarealeducation inenvironmen-
was much cheaper to plant grass on an aban- tal corruption and smash-mo~th class warfare
doned mine siteand call ita"pasture" or,better by tracking the last twenty years of Blanton's
yet, a"wildlifehabitat. life. She grew up in a small town called Day-
II
That iswhat has happened at Goose Pond, hoit, in Harlan County, where fourgenerations
where rock islandsdot the still water and hard- ofherfamilyhad livedalongWhite Star Hollow.
scrabbletreesclingtothecobble.Abovethepond It wasthe kind ofcommunity where neighbors
stands asmallwooden observation deck, replete shared their coal in the winter, and on a rare
with twoofthose mounted viewingstations you piece offlatland, one man, Millard Sutton, grew
findatNiagara Falls.Lookingonlythrough these enough vegetables to feed nearly everyone in
binoculars,onemightindeedbefooledintothink- town. Familiestook turnshelping out inhisgar-
ingthat thiswassomekind ofwildlifesanctuary. den. Blanton moved to Michigan in the seven-
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Butbackawaytwostepsandyouwillseeabehe- ties to start afamily,then moved back to Day-
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~'.\',~ moth bluecrane sitting in adeep pit behind the hoit in 1981asasinglemother oftwo.Hercareer
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- . ~ pond, swinging its massive arm back and forth asanactivist started shortly afterward, when she
d likethefinofamechanicalshark.Attached tothe phoned the highway department and asked for
crane isadragline that rakesahouse-sized maw someonetocleanupthe largepuddleofblackwa-
acrossthecoalseam,scoopingup100tonsofrock ter and coal sludge that stood in front of her
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46 HARPER'S MAGAZINE IAPRIL 2005 Photograph ©Mike Smith
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trailerwhereherchildren caught the schoolbus. wasadifferent story."It's like abowl where the rJ..•
The highway department called the coal com- fogsitsdown onthe riveruntil the middle ofthe
panythat wasmining aroundWhite StarHollow, day,"Blanton said."And Ilivedright at the fog
and the company responded bysending a coal line, and asthe crow fliesnot veryfarfrom the
truck to slowly circle Blanton's trailer all day. plant. In my mind, I knew they were going to
"That really burnt my ass," Blanton recalled, poison meand mykidsallover again."
"that they thought they could shut meupbyin- Blanton loadedher traileronto aflatbed,took
timidation." That coal company, owned bytwo her children, and leftWhite Star Hollow.
brothers,JamesandAubra Dean,never didclean On a bright cold day in November, I drove
up the mess,and in the end, after Blanton's re- with Blanton back to Dayhoit. We passed the
lentlessbadgering,the highwaydepartment built trailer park that satnext to the McGraw Edison
anew road upto her trailer. plant, aswellasthe fieldthat usedto beMillard
Unfortunately, Blanton's problemswereabout Sutton's garden. Blanton pointed to the yellow
to get much bigger than a slurrypuddle. Since housenext to it."Everyone inthat house diedof
moving backtoDayhoit, Blanton's twochildren cancer,"shesaid.And shesaiditmorethan once
had been constantly sick. Sometimes, after aswetraveled upthe hollow.
bathing, theywouldbreakout inwhat their doc- The road followed Ewing Creek, running
tor called "a measle-like rash." But they didn't brownfromrecentrains.And then, aswefollowed
have the measles.The groundwater that fedtheir it farther upstream, the water turned orange.
well had been poisoned with vinyl chloride,
trichloroethylene, and a dozen other "volatile
"1
organic contaminants," or VOCs. On a three- grew up on this creek,"Blanton said, "grew
acre plot ahalf-mile from Blanton's home, the
up walking thesemountains, and I watched
McGraw EdisonCompany wasrebuildingmining
them crumble beforemy eyes"
equipment. In the process they sprayed
trichloroethylene-based degreasing solvents on
transformers and capacitors. They piped PCB-
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ladentransformeroildirectlyintoMillardSutton's Blanton pointedformetopulloffatarustingcat- I 'I"
large garden. They even sprayed it on the dirt tlegate,whereasignread:MOUNTAIN SPUR COAL }I Ii I
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roads of the next-door trailer park to, as they COMPANY. We got out and climbed the gravel ~I •'I \•
said,"help keep the dustdown." They werejust roadthat ledtoanabandoned stripmine.Anasty ,. J/, ,
being goodneighbors. orange syrupcalledacidmine water waspouring
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Inthe lateeightiesandearlynineties Blanton, outofapipethat drained anopen mine pit.The ./
alongwithtwoother Dayhoitwomen,JoanRobi- sulfuricacidcollectedinasmallpond,thenspilled r -
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nett andMonetta Gross,beganpushingstateand overinto the creekbelow.Blanton litacigarette.
federalagenciestotesttheir water."Inthe media "I grew up on this creek," she said. "I grewup \
wewereportrayed asthesehystericalhousewives walkingthesemountains, andI'vewatched them
who didn't know what wewere talking about," crumblebeforemyveryeyes.Itjustmakesmean-
Blanton recalled. Finally,aftermanyofthe wells grierand angrier knowing that these people can
werefoundtobecontaminated bychemicalsfrom operate insuch amanner and getbywith it."
theplant (which hadsincebeensoldandresold), Foryearsthe Deanbrothers, alongwithathird
the EPA declared Dayhoit a Superfund site in partner,CarlMcAfee,havebeenplayinganelab-
1992andput itonthe National PrioritiesListof orate shellgamethat keepsthem inbusinessand
hotspots."ImovedbacktoHarlanCounty think- freefrom any responsibility to the land or local
ing I wasbringing mychildren home to a safe landowners.Itworkslikethis:thethree menown
place," Blanton said. "Instead I brought them severalcompanies that remain ingoodstanding
backto achemical wasteland." with state regulators. Then they set up smaller
The EPA excavated 5,000 tons of contami- companieswithnameslikeLimousineCoal,Mas-
nated soilfromaround the plant, then trucked it terBlend,and Mountain Spur.These operations
to Alabama, where itwasstored next to apoor, lease equipment from the "good" company and
African-American community. To extract the post asmallbond that willsupposedlycover the
contaminated groundwater, a pump-and-treat cost ofreclamation should the company declare
systemwasinstalledonthe siteofthe abandoned bankruptcy, which isexactly what they do.The
plant. This catalytic oxidation unit filtered out shell company forfeits its bond, which isnever
someoftheVOCs andreleasedthe remaining el- enough to complete the reclamation, and local
ements, including carcinogens, into the airtobe communities areleftwithcracked foundations, a
quickly dispersed. At' least that was the plan. contaminated creek, poisoned wells,and steep
Blanton began researching pump-and-treat sys- slopesthat pourmuddownwhen itrainsbecause
temsandfound that theyhad been tested atsites there isnovegetation tohold soilinplace.
wherewindswerehigh. ButWhite Star Hollow In October 2002, Blanton tried to block a
FOLIO 47
permit from being issued to one of these shell tyand died," Blanton said.We stared insilence
companies, Shamrock Fuel.Beforeahearing of- at the dates on the markers. "Almost nobody in
ficerfromthe OfficeofSurfaceMining, she laid Dayhoit livespastfifty-five,"shewent on."Atthe
out an extensive paper trailshowingthat at least meetings the people fromthe EPAwouldaccuse
one ofthe men,orhiswife,wasnamed asan "in- usofbeing too emotional. I told them, 'Let all
corporator" oranofficerineveryone ofthe com- ofyour family members and friends die around
panies that had abandoned reclamation and de- you and see ifyou don't get emotional." She
claredbankruptcy. But,curiously,theOSM ruled knelt besidethe graveofahighschoolfriend.On
that itcouldfindnoclearlinkbetween the com- theheadstone wasadepiction ofafather andson
panies, And the fight to penalize violators of standing beside a stream. "He was a real red-
SMCRA was made even harder by a puzzling neck," Blanton said, breaking into a smile. "I
1999verdict inthe U.S.Court ofAppealsforthe loved him."
District ofColumbia. InNational MiJ1ingAssoci-
ation v.Department of theInterior, the court ruled
that permits could not be denied to companies February 23, 2004,Lost Mountain
forviolations atminestheynolongercontrolled. Forty years ago Lyndon Johnson came to
So all coal operators like the Deans have to do eastern Kentucky, the poorest place in
isdeclare bankruptcy, start anewcompany, and America, to declare his War on Poverty.
move on to the next permit.I His limousine maneuvered the pocked roads of
Acrossthe creekfromwherewestood,Icould Martin County, and, with LadyBirdat his side,
seethe home ofBlanton's childhood friendDeb- the president stopped atsometar-papered shacks
bieWilliams. Beforethe mining started here, she toassureafewfamiliesthat he wouldbringthem
spent $7,000 tohave anewwelldug.Butassoon intohisGreat Society.At that time,Appalachia's
asthe blasting began, her faucet wasrunning as poverty rate stood at 31 percent. Since then,
orange asthewaternowdraining fromthismine. nearly 2;300milesofroadshave been laidacross
The foundation of her house and her chimney the region and more than 800,000 familieshave
gotten indoorplumbing. And todayeastern Ken-
tucky'spoverty rate hovers around, well,30per-
The dozers have erasedalmost all the cent. If you look at a map of central Ap-
palachia-in Kentucky, West Virginia, and
logging roads,shoving aside topsoil
Tennessee-the areasthat the Appalachian Re-
and subsoil in search of the coalseam gional Commission deems "distressed" are al-
mostwithout exception the ones that have seen
the most strip mining.
have been cracked. Butthe Deans have not yet UponLostMountain, thegroundismuddyand
been forced to reimburse Williams, and it'slike- covered byalight snow.The dozershave erased
lythey won't be.Just upthe ridge, another one almostallthe loggingroads,shovingasidetopsoil
oftheir companies, SandlickCoal, continues to andsubsoilinsearchofthe number 11coalseam.
strip awaythe treesand the coal. LeslieResources has now blocked offevery dirt
BeforeleavingDayhoit, Blanton and Istopped road leading up Lost Mountain with imposing
atthe White Star Cemetery,whichsitsinasmall irongates.Idon't take itpersonally.Eastern Ken-
~ ,
clearing, Some ofthe headstones were soold I tuckians areasattached to their ATVs asurban
1, <0 couldbarelydistinguishthemfromthe largerocks Kentuckians are to their SUVs, and while both
,
I that had rolled down the mountainside. "Hey, dotheir respective share ofenvironmental dam-
thisispretty,"Blantonsaid."Idon't think I'veever age,it'sthe formerthat Leslieistryingtokeepoff
been up here on a day I wasn't burying some- LostMountain. NO TRESPASSING signshang onall
one." Many ofthe newer tombs weresetabove- thegates,but,sinceLeslieleasesonlythe mineral
ground in cement vaults. Blanton pulled back rights to the property, Itell myselfit has no ju-
some plastic flowersbeside one of her cousin's risdiction tokeepmeoffproperty itdoesn't own.
=\'",'
markers. "She lived next to what wecalled the Iduck under one gate on the eastern sideofthe
"""~"'" killer well," Blanton said. "Everyone who lived mountain and start walking. Chain saws have
around that welldied." moweddown mostofthe treesonthis slope,and
In the middle of the cemetery were buried they allliewhere they fell.Only the dead trees
two of Garnett Howard's three sons, the two have been leftstanding, and woodpeckers move
who were born after he started working at the backand forth between them asifthey can't be-
McGraw Edison plant. "They both developed lieve their luck-nothing now stands between
non-Hodgkins lymphoma beforetheywerethir- themandthecarpenterantsthat colonizediseased
beech trees.
I The Deans did not respond to repeated requests for Higherup,wherethehardwoodtreesstillstand,
comment on thisarticle, I passa sign tacked to one that reads: DANGER
48 HARPER'S MAGAZINE /APRIL 2005
/
/ I
BLASTING. Almost oncueasirensoundstosignal but no deep miners aretryingtodigitout. Why ~
acoming blast. Iamstill too farfromthe site to bother?Why sendhundreds ofminersburrowing ~
actuallyseetheexplosion, buttwominutes later, underground when afewmenarmedwithexplo-
~o ~
when the blastsoundsout overthe hollow,Ifeel sivesand bulldozerscan blast right down to the ----
aslight trembling beneath myboots.After afew seam?And whereasinthefortiesittookonemin- .-
moreminutes,ayellowplumemovesthrough the er all day to load sixteen tons of coal out of a
trees,carryingwith itthe sharp smellofsulfur. deepmine, todayone manbehind the wheelofa
Idrop down the ridgeside to alower logging loadercaninfiveminutesfillacoaltruckwithsix-
road that leads directly to the source of the tytonsofthisbituminous rock.What makesstrip
smoke. Ican hear the constant beeping ofhaul mining socost-efficientispreciselywhat makesit
trucks inching back to the edge of the hollow sodevastating.
fill.A fewmonths ago,Icould followthis grav- HereonLostMountain, thecrewgoesstraight
el road up to the mountaintop. Now I find it for the highest three seams, where there isless
blocked by a row of impregnable boulders. earth to move and amore ready supplyofcoal.
Peering over them, I can see
only the top ofatruck asit rais-
esitsbedand sendsanother load
ofrubbledown into the valley.I
can, however, tell that what
used to be a ridgeline leading
westisnownowhere insight.
Icirclebackaround the moun-
tain and beginclimbing through
the younger trees and wild
rosesthat stillcoverthe northern
slope.The lastobstacles are the
capstones that mark the summit.
[shimmyintoanarrowcreviceof
rock, find a foothold, and haul
myselfup.At the crest, doubled
overandgasping,Istillseeinthe
dirtthesametracesofwildturkey,
grouse, and raccoons that I saw
months ago.The mountaintop is
still here, still as it was. These
obdurate bouldersattest toit.It's
not until Ireach the other sideof
this summit and lookdown that
Iseewhat haschanged.
The lower ridgeline isnearly
gone. What was, last month, a
gradual slope leading westward isnow,right be- The dozershave pushed much ofthe vegetation
lowme, afifty-footvertical drop that givesway and topsoiltothe edgeofthisman-made plateau,
todark pitsand grayledges. called an area mine. The twisted trees and
Youcan think ofthismountain, oranymoun- mounded dirt form a berm around the darker
tain in Appalachia, as a geological layer cake crater. Young maples and hickories stubbornly
withfour-toeight-footseamsofcoalseparatedby holdonattheedgeofthemining,wheresomuch
muchthicker bandsofsandstone,slate,andshale. ofthe topsoilhasbeen upturned andcompacted.
The seams are numbered in descending order: What compounds the problems ofmountaintop
the one nearest the summit is the Hazard 12 removal isthat when the bedrock isdisturbed, it .
seam, and about three hundred feet below lies increases in volume by 20 percent; that addi-
Hazard 9.The narrator ofMerleTravis'sfamous tional matter iscalled"swell"and willeventual-
folksong"Sixteen Tons"beginshislament with, lybedumped down into the valleybelow.
Stayingoutofsight,Iloopdowntotheedgeof
Iwasbornonemomin' when thesun didn't shine
the mining and duck in behind three toppled
Pickedupashoveland Iwalked tothemine
pine trees.Fromhere the whole scene isinfront
Ihauledsixteen tons ofnumber 9coal
ofme. At the faredgeofthe mine site, awhite
And thestraw-boss said, "Well, blessmy soul."
"powdertower"nowstands,filledwithexplosive
That samenumber 9coalseamliesbeneath Lost material. Infront ofit,dozershave shaved down
Mountain, afewhundred feetbelowthe summit, tothe number 10seam.A loaderscrapesthe coal
Photograph ©MikeSmith FOLlO 49
\
I
••
(
/ intomounds,then shovelsthem intothefirstcoal maplesuccumbstothe dozer'sblade.The dozeris
truckstoclimbLostMountain. Those truckswill gracelessandresolute.Eachtimethe driverbacks
taketheir loadsfivemilesuphighway80toLeslie down the hill to take a run at another tree, I
Resource'scoaltipple,whichsitsbesidethenorth scrambleaboutfiftyyardsfartheraway.When Iam
forkoftheKentuckyRiver.There thecoalwillbe finallyfarenough down the mountain to escape
processedand loadedonto railcarsorbarges. the driver'snotice, Itake aseat on astump. It is
The whistleblowsat4JO-quitting time.The almost dusk,and the mountain has darkened to
workersgrabtheir lunch coolersandjumpdown asilhouette.Icannolongerseethedozer.Butfrom
from the dozers, trucks, and loaders. I retrace the stump, Iwatch asone tree after another falls
my path down the backside of the mountain. against the violet light ofthe setting sun.
My face and arms bear the scars of blackberry
gauntlets, and my water bottle is empty. My After thedraftEnvironmental ImpactState-
thoughts have turned from the ravages ofstrip ment on mountaintop removal was re-
mining to the shelves ofcoldbeeratthe BPsta- leasedin2003,severalforumswereheldin
tion down below. I am not looking ahead, not Kentucky and West Virginia to allow for public
comment on the study. This
struckmeasarather cynicalfor-
mality,but Idrove down to the
hearing at the Hal RogersCen-
terinHazard,Kentucky, tohear
whatcoalfieldcitizenshadtosay.
There wereabout 150people in
the auditorium, mostly men.
They woreCarhartt jackets and
work boots; some still had on
their hard hats. Up onstagethe
draftersofthe EISdocument sat
atalongtable.Alltheheavyhit-
ters were there-the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, the
Army Corps of Engineers, the
Department ofthe Interior's Of-
ficeofSurfaceMining, the Fish
&WildlifeService.They satat-
tentive, with penspoised,ready
to take the publicpulse.
Anyone who wished would
havefiveminutestospeakhisor
her piece.The firstspeaker,Bill
Caylor, president of the Ken-
tucky Coal Association, began
by complaining for thirty sec-
looking atanything really,when the hugesilver ondsthat hehadpreparedatwelve-minutespeech
mawofabulldozercomeslungingover the ridge and whycouldn't somebodydosomething about
about twenty feet in front of me. The driver the time limit. Then Caylor, a man with thick
doesn't seeme;he iscocked at too steep an an- white hair and aneat white mustache, askedfor
gle.Ileapbackoverseveralfallen treesand take ashow ofhands ofthose who had come to sup-
cover.Whatever elsebulldozersdo,they donot port strip mining. If anyone besides me didn't
movefast.This one backsdown the hill, coughs raiseahand, itwashard to tell. Having sizedup
. another cloud ofblack smoke into the air,then his audience, Caylor launched into abarrage of
lurches back into view, shoving topsoil to the statistics: 120 million tons of coal were mined
side.The driver pauseseach time togethisbear- inKentucky lastyear,placing the state third in
ings, and each time I get another look at the extraction behind West Virginia and Wyoming;
huge, serrated blade. Forthe firsttime, Iunder- .that coalfetches $3billion annually; 80percent
stand completely why Harry Caudill, author of ofKentucky coal issoldout ofstate; in the last
Night Comes totheCumberlands, described it as fifteenyears,coal-relatedemploymenthasdropped
a"monstrous scimitar." 61percent; at 4.1cents per kilowatt hour, Ken-
Once thedriverhasclearedaspacetowork,he tuckycoal isthe cheapest energysource around.
sets about the real task-knocking down trees. "We're likethe Saudi Arabia ofAmerica," Cay-
I'm startled to seehow easilya twenty-year-old lorannounced, meaning,Ithink, that Appalachia
50 HARPER'S MAGAZINE! APRILzoos Photograph ©MikeSmith