Anyone who wants to know what life without coal mining would be like needs only to remember the power outage that has kept so many thousands in the dark for the past two weeks.

Environmentalists who want to end surface mining — and, let’s face it, coal mining in general — should have come to West Virginia during the power outage to see just what sitting in the dark with no heat is like. That’s what it will be like if they get their way and convince the Environmental Protection Agency to ban coal mining.

We understand that many environmentalists do want to save the environment. But, many, like Robert Kennedy, Jr., who came to West Virginia recently, isn’t merely interested in ending surface mining, they really want ALL coal mining banned.

There isn’t a truer statement than “Coal keeps the lights on.” And that was made all too clear during the recent power outage.

Environmentalists who want to stop coal mining need to remember that the next time they protest our top energy source.