Randy Wilson
Randy Wilson
Clay County, KY
"They say that we’ll have coal for 50 or 60 more years...like that’s forever."
It’s coming to end folks, and it’s really soon. People need to be thinking about other ways to hook up to the juice, because it's leaving here. But they’ll continue razing these mountains until they get the last crumb of it. And then what? What are we going to do then? We need alternatives and we need to start thinking about it now.
The jobs created by coal are pretty scarce, but since it’s a monoculture, that’s not good. Any community that depends on one industry, it’s not good. There’s got to be a diversity. Since there’s not, they get away with everything. People are beholding to them because it’s not providing enough jobs and the kind of jobs people feel rewarded in. You can’t plan the amount of destruction to the scale that is planned for eastern Kentucky and not have it impact the land and the people and especially the water.
There haven’t been alternatives to jobs and energy and the destruction goes on. Money, all the energy, and what jobs are provided. When you are dependent on someone that thick, it’s a recipe for corruption. So politicians are beholden to them. They bow to them. Scientists bow down to them. Economists bow down to them. Engineers bow down to them. Everyone does.
I think people are hesitant to stick their neck out, but if you have an organization behind you, it encourages you, and you have a sense of responsibility, and you’re more willing to talk. You don’t feel like you’re worthy to be talking a lot of times. You learn that you are and people give you good feedback and are interested in what you have to say. That helps you grow as a person; it makes you a little more confident in who you are and where you stand. You got people behind you. If you’re on your own, it’s pretty difficult to make a stand and keep at it.
We’ve gotten laws passed due to housewives, farmers, mechanics, school teachers, white folks, black folks…everyone has contributed and everyone gets to tell their story. I think that’s important that people get to tell their story in a place where people will listen to it.