Carl Shoupe
Carl Shoupe
Harlan County, KY
My name is Carl Shoupe and I’m a third generation coal miner- disabled coal miner. And I’m also a disabled union coal miner. You know, back in the day when my children were small I didn’t have the chance to really stand up and say what I wanted to say about certain things because I was too busy raising my children- working. But I’ve got grandchildren now and they deserve something better than what I had to put up with!
The first ton of coal went out of Wallins Creek, KY down in Harlan County about 1890 and I’m not that old, but through my grandfather, my father and through me thorugh all three generations of coalminers I’ve heard this wonderful saying, “JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!” And you know right here in the Eastern Kentucky mountains they are consolidating our schools, people are leaving, we’ve got the highest cancer rate in the nation, the highest diabetes rate in the nation…now, guys, I’m really not sure if coal is the answer! But you got to be careful about that because I have relatives and good friends who work in the coal mines, but I’m going to make a statement here- If you can’t deepmine it, it ain’t worth getting out of the mountain in the first place!
This mountaintop removal and stripmining is killing us here in Eastern Kentucky! I got a friend up here with me today from Harlan County. Lives in a beautiful home down there. A beautiful pond out back. He spent thousands of dollars beautifying that pond. The coal companies, a stripjob, wiped that pond out in a matter of a week. It’s totally destroyed now, he can’t put it back together. This is strip mining in Eastern Kentucky. It’s happening all around. It’s got to be stopped and this coal-to-liquid fuel is a bunch of crap. It’s a dirty lie! We’ve got to keep up the fight and thank God for all of y’all!