by Ronnie Banks

10th grade
Cumberland High School
Cumberland, KY

This piece was read at the OSM hearing by KFTC member Carl Shoupe of Harlan County and entered into the official comments. 

Kentucky is the greatest place on Earth to live. It houses warm summers, mild winters and the most beautiful landscape in the spring and fall. We taste the first fruits of spring’s blossoms, and enjoy the varied colors of our mountains in the fall. God Himself has painted our hills and mercifully blessed our land with a healthy, radiating beauty.

However, the face of our state is being scarred, like acne scars on the face of a teen; we have hurt the beauty of Kentucky. We have done this by strip mining and removing mountain-tops off of the oldest mountains in the United States. It is frightening to watch our beautiful homeland as it is gashed and cut while mining companies take their blades to the mountains.

This mountain-top removal must be stopped. It is altering more than the unbridled spirit of Kentucky. It is affecting our weather, vegetation and communities as well. In times past, we never even considered tornadoes. Now, they bounce over our bald mountains like a schoolboy hopping over a fence.  Our streams and headwaters that refresh the mighty rivers are being choked out by the toxic sludge from the coal companies’ “toilet bowls”. We must consider more than one man’s welfare. The environment is being rudely and violently shaken; communities are crumbling and falling on their faces. Kentucky itself is crying out for help. What will we do? How will we respond?

It is up to us to protect our beauty. The scars have been made, but they can be corrected. Proper treatment of our wounds will result in healing. Action must be taken now! When a patient with an infection does not take his antibiotics, his condition worsens and he is overtaken by the infection. Then major surgery may be required, however the damage is done. Kentucky has an infection called mountain-top removal. We have to use our antibiotics and fight back. Otherwise we may have to undergo surgery.

It’s time for us to preserve our home. We are threatened with twisters that have never been a threat before. Our rivers are getting thirsty. It’s time for Kentucky to take its medicine.