What does a Nashville recording artist know about coal mining, anyway?
When I interviewed her Monday evening, she told me that several members of her family have worked in the coal mining industry, including her brother, who is currently a coal miner in Putnam County.
Since when did rock and country singers and actors and actresses become experts on coal mining and its effects on the environment and why should we even listen to what they have to say? Just because they are “stars”, that makes them an expert in all things?
Mattea should stick to singing country songs instead of sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.
Who will be the next star to take up the environmentalists’ crusade to stop coal mining?
Bono?
Angelina Jolie?
Madonna?
The big problem is that people put too much importance on what these “stars” think, instead of listening to the experts, who actually know what they’re talking about.
What makes Robert Kennedy Jr. an expert on the environment and coal mining? I would think a coal executive with decades of experience would know a whole lot more than a guy who is famous just because of his last name.
But, back to Mattea.
The singer isn’t the big hit maker she once was and may have needed a cause to help boost her profile.
She picked the wrong cause to rally behind if she’s hoping to increase the same of her records in West Virginia, because it appears she’s biting the hand that fed her.
It’s people like the coal miners in southern West Virginia who have bought her records and supported her all these years and now she’s turned her back on her friends, family and neighbors — the hard-working coal miners of West Virginia — by taking the side of the carpet-bagger environmentalists.
What Mattea really needs to look at is how many of these people who are concerned for West Virginia’s environmental well-being are really out-of-staters looking for a cause for which they can receive funding from the Sierra Club or some other Left Coast organization to continue their hippie, beatnik lifestyles. If you don’t believe me, ask the guys in the tie-dyed shirts, flip-flops and rose-colored, John Lennon glasses where he’s from and what his job is.
These “environmentalists” are elitists, many of which don’t have to work like coal miners do to make ends meet. They get paid to rally around a cause and make a stand. They don’t have to crawl into a black hole every day to put food on the table for their families. They travel around from town to town rallying people against different “environmental” causes.
When the cause is won in West Virginia, will they stay here and keep working to make it a more environmentally-safe place?
No way.
They will move on to some other state where they can stir up more trouble.
These environmentalists don’t give any reasonable alternatives to coal when they’re making their arguments against it. They’ve stated that they don’t care about the job loss we’d suffer here, which means they don’t care if the people of West Virginia have to move out of state to find work with which they can support their families.
That’s not as important as saving a tree or the mayfly.
Is the mayfly so important to the environment that it’s extinction is going to destroy life as we know it? Maybe someone should have tried to save the dinosaurs, too.
West Virginia is a hotbed of activity for the environmentalists these days. Pres. Obama has given in to the environmentalists and they are winning the war. The voices of the few are being heard over the shouts of the majority because our president coddles the tree-hugging environmentalists.
Which state is next?
Kentucky with its riverfills and road projects?
Tennessee’s zinc mines?
Maybe environmentalists can stop the senseless murder of pine trees that happens every year around Christmas time. Now, there’s a cause they could really rally around.
What happens to West Virginia when the environmentalists win the war and coal mining altogether is stopped?
Then, we’ll have to depend on China to provide us with our coal and we’ll be paying electric bills that are triple — or more than — what they are now. Plus, our national security will be jeopardized since we’ll have to depend on so many foreign countries for our energy needs.
Has Mattea looked at it from that point of view?
“Well, she did fly over a surface mine and cried when she saw the damage being done to the earth,” one might say.
The benefits of surface mining are many. We need flat land here in southern West Virginia. Businesses that look at locating here aren’t because there’s no flat land on which to build.
Mattea is merely a fading-star band-wagoner who saw a movement and threw her two cents in. She’s now riding the fence and saying she’s listening to both sides of the issue. I can’t imagine a worse representative for our great state than Mattea.
People need to stop listening to these so-called “stars” and learn the facts about coal and the benefits surface mining can bring to West Virginia and our federal government needs to stop giving in to the hippie beatniks hugging a shrub.
I know I don't know a thing about coal mining. But what I do know is that I love my father (a retired coal miner), my grandfather and all the other men of my family (all retired coal miners).
And I love the mountains.
Step away from your biased view and attempt to see things from a different light.
You are in the position of education your community.
I believe you may have missed some important points.
And, truly, lack of full education on this subject is hurting the people of Logan County and the surrounding areas and destroying what beauty is left.
I am the daughter of a coal miner and my family has mined for generations. I respect coal miners and the decision they make to enter a dangerous job to provide for their family.
I, however, do not approve of the current mountain top removal. It is dangerous, it is ugly and it is raping the people of the beauty that will not return for hundreds of years. My father, a retired coal miner, should be able to relax and enjoy his golden years. Instead, his home is subject to destruction from the blasting that is occurring on the mountain behind his home.
Do you remember the Buffalo Creek Disaster? Surely, you don't believe all of the current blasting comes without a deadly price.
The people (and apparently the editor of the local paper) have been manipulated into believing there is no other way.
What about windmill energy? The mountain tops are perfect locations for windmills that can produce high power energy.
I am sad for you, for your community and for my grandchildren who will never visit the beautiful mountains I was raised in because they have been blasted away by companies who do not care about the men and women working for them. They care about the dollar they are making.
Shame on you for providing such a biased view.
Do your research and try presenting both sides of the story before it's too late.
According to you, Kathy Mattea is not qualified to have an opinion on this topic because she is not a miner. After a hard day's work at the Logan Banner, do you head to the coal mines for the second shift? If not, then I guess you should pipe down as well. Please don't refer to the coal extraction process as surface mining; it is mountain top removal and its impact can not be minimized with a more palatable label. I don't think anyone who views the carnage from above would say that this is a great thing for our state. It is a gut-wrenching site. As for the need for flat land, I think we can do without another strip mall. I am a proponent of capitalism but permantently desecrating these magnificent mountains for a few years of energy and profit is short-sighted. We do not have an infinite supply of coal or mountains. We should not permit the coal and power companies to use and destroy our treasured landscape. I have the utmost respect for the miners and I sympathize with their plight but we are a resilient people. We can learn new skills, start our own businesses. In the current economy, people everwhere are forced to do this every day. We owe it to our children and our ancestors to protect this beautiful state, the Mountain State.