Sam Gilbert

Sam Gilbert

Letcher County, KY

I’ve been in the coalfields all my life.  In the 70s is when strip mining really became a fact of life for Kentucky.  More millionaires were made in Pike County then ever was in the state of Kentucky- all from coal, all from stripmining. 

Strip mining is cheaper than deep mining coal, but what people don’t understand is that when you get a promise of jobs- when this coal company says, “We’re going to put 1,000 jobs in Pike County”, what they’re not saying is that these jobs with mountaintop removal and stripmining will be gone in 5 years.  Deep mines will last 30 years in the same seam of coal. 

They’re not saying, “We’re going to give you a short-term job.”  They’re just saying, “We’re going to give you a job.” 

The thing that I look at when they talk about making gas from coal is the lie.  First off, oil companies own most of the major coal reserves.  ArchMineral is owned by Ashland Oil.  The Mountaintop removals, they do them, because they’re cheaper and faster, plus it furnishes more coal quicker.  So when they start building these plants, it’s going to furnish some jobs and the laws on mining are going to become lax, because the government has an interest in this.  The government is not going to let the law slow down this plant from getting all the coal that it can slide through it.  By that, you’re going to see more and more bloodshed from stripmining and deep mining, from miners dying. 

What I see is these companies look up at the moon in the twilight and they say, “Hey Eastern Kentucky! There’s a pot of gold here.  We’re going to bring that down here and give that to you.  We’re going to give that to you. “  Twenty years later you’re going to see this plant sitting here rusting out.  See these mountains back here?  There will be no tress on these mountains.  There will be no mountains.  The slurry and the sludge from this plant- what are they going to do with that?  It’s going to turn our dirt black.  It’s going to ruin our air and ur ozone layer.  It’s going to be a fossil fuel that doesn’t help.  It’s not going to help global warming at all. 

We can let this happen or we can do everything in our power to stop it.  I’ve seen the sign here that says, “Don’t sell our souls to liquid coal.” What we’re really selling is the culture and the heritage of our grandchildren.

I have lived in these mountains most all of my life.  I’ve been through the United States and I can’t think of one other place I’d rather be.  Why?  Because I love it.  I love the people here.

Why do we need to let them destroy this?  What happens to our rivers and streams?  We’ll have no good water.  Plus, the pollution from here is going to go all the way into Tennessee on the Cumberland River side of the mountain.  And from over here it’s going to go all the way through Western Kentucky and Missouri.  They might call that sharing our water, but they’re also sharing our pollutants.

Coal companies aren’t going to do one thing but rob us.  Why don’t they spend this money and build a non-fossil fuel plant that will last past our grandchildren.