CHARLESTON — Maria Gunnoe said she is more concerned about getting water to her home than miners who may lose jobs if environmentalists are successful is ending mountaintop removal mining.

"It's not my problem to answer that," Gunnoe said, when asked about an alternative for miners who might lose jobs if environmentalists get their wish. "I have issues, too. Theirs is jobs. Mine’s water. I don't see anyone stepping up and putting water back in my place. West Virginia American Water Company wants $38,000 to pipe water in to me. Who is going to pay for that? I want to sympathize with people that need jobs, but it's hard to do because I need water.

"We're going to lose these jobs anyway. The United States Geological Society says there is only 25-30 years of mineable coal left. These jobs are on their way out anyway, so we need to start having these discussions regardless, whether the permits go through, whether anything happens. We've got to start having these discussions, one way or another. To be honest, we're not trading mayflies for jobs. We're trading water for jobs. That shows how desperate we are to have jobs."

Gunnoe and other environmentalists got a chance to make their case to Governor Joe Manchin, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, Congressman Nick Rahall, representatives from Senator Jay Rockefeller's and Sen. Robert C. Byrd's offices and county commissioners from Logan, Mingo and Lincoln counties at the summit in Charleston.

Gunnoe, the spokesperson for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, said the meeting with Gov. Joe Manchin, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and Congressman Nick Rahall, along with several other officials from Logan, Mingo and Lincoln counties Monday evening at the State Capitol, is a good start, but she isn't optimistic about what might come from it.

"I'm not going to place a whole lot of hope in (the meeting)," Gunnoe said. "I'm always hopeful that things will change, but, at the same time, I'm not very trusting and that's one of the issues we talked about. In order for our government, the coal industry, the DEP, in order for me to trust them, they've got a lot to earn back because they've taken everything. They've taken our water, they've taken our air. My home is in the middle of a blast zone now. It's real hard to trust someone who is willing to do that to you, as a family. So, in my opinion, there is a trust to be won back.

"I believe this is the first step in the right direction. I don't think this is where it ends at. It has to move forward in order to be productive. There has to be more meetings."

Gov. Manchin said he respectfully disagrees with the environmentalists on certain issues, but the meeting is a good way to open talks on surface mining.

"We can still walk away respecting each other and we're opening up that dialogue," Manchin said. "We had good dialogue. I think there was a lot of respect. I told them that I truly respectfully disagree. If you can show that you can take a piece of land and remove the resources that the Good Lord gave you and create a better piece of land and use it for many, many generations in a more valuable way, then hopefully we can look for that balance.

"People are looking at the sins of the past that weren't done as well as they should have been. Maybe we can go back and fix those or try to make them better, but we can sure prevent that from happening in the future by working together."

Bo Webb, a representative of OVEC, said environmentalists are not against all coal mining, just surface mining.

"We're not opposed to coal. We are adamantly opposed to mountaintop removal-speed slope-strip-surface mining," Webb said. "We understand coal has been a huge part of our economy for a long time and it will remain in our future economy. However, we must not allow ourselves to become complacent enough that we're going to allow the destruction — the extermination — of our mountains and communities surrounding them. That's our issue and hopefully we have now started some type of dialogue where we can work towards solving these problems."

Congresswoman Capito said the issues discussed at yesterday's meeting are "very emotional."

"I think as Bo said, dialogue is the key," Capito said. "On the upside, a dialogue has not only started, but I think will come further down the road. On the downside, having attended both meetings, I think there is a gap here and we want to try to work together to try to bridge that gap.

"I thought this was a good listening session. This brought forward science and personal experience and concerns about safety and health that we all need to listen to, so I think it was very informative."

Congresswoman Capito said she believes opening the lines of communication is a way to bridge the gap between environmentalists and state officials who support coal.

"I said in my statement that there's a huge gap and that's pretty obvious, but you can't bridge the gap if you're not talking to each other or if you're not at least calmly trying to understand," Capito said. "From that, it may be a small step, but it's a step. The legislature was there, along with the regulators and a lot of people who are interested in creating and keeping jobs and a lot of people who are interested in outlawing mountaintop removal. There were a lot of people in the room who heard this and I think that's a good thing."

Capito said she hopes the two sides can find some kind of compromise.

"I think this is an issue that is extremely emotional on both sides and this is where I think the regulatory agencies at the federal and state level can help find a middle ground," Capito said. "If mountaintop removal were to move forward, is there a middle ground for these folks? Probably not. They are frustrated by enforcement issues and I think those are areas we can go to first. We've had practice at this, getting together and trying to figure out a better way to do it. I'm just not ready to say this is an impossible situation."

Country singer Kathy Mattea, who is also a Cross Lanes native and has a brother in the coal mine industry and other family members who have worked for coal companies, said she has seen both sides of the surface mining issue and hopes the meeting starts talks between the two opposing factions.

"I think we made a huge step and I'm honored to have been a part of that," Mattea said. "I think there was a lot of respect and a lot of listening. I think there was a real sense for some of the people who came to speak that maybe this is the first time they've been heard. It was such a respectful meeting."

Mattea said she got involved in the surface mining fight after she visited a mine in Boone and Kanawha County with the Sierra Club. She said she saw the other side of the issue when Bill Raney with the West Virginia Coal Association took her on a tour of a mine.

"I began to see that it is almost impossible for either side to hear each other," Mattea said. "I feel like I want to do whatever I can to help keep this conversation going and to keep everyone safe in the process. That is what I'm most passionate about."

The singer took a stand last year against surface mining after flying over the mountaintop removal site with the Sierra Club. But, she said after touring the mine with Raney, she is now trying to listen to both sides.

"I'm trying to really see everyone's point and I'm trying to do what I can to sit still and listen and advocate for the conversation itself and keep everyone safe while that happens," Mattea said. "When people get in a lot of pain or when they feel they can't get their point heard, it makes it very difficult for them to hear each other. When emotions get high, people feel desperate and they start to lash out at each other.

"I went up and saw (a surface mine) and it was quite an emotional response I had. When Bill Raney offered to take me to (a surface mine), I called him and said 'Please, I would like to be an example of the kind of conversation I would like to see.' We cannot sacrifice the well-being of one group for the well-being of another group. This conversation has to happen so that everyone gets to move forward and feel heard and considered in the conversation. I think that's what I want to focus on the most. We cannot trade one group's pain for another group's pain. I'm not against anybody. I think this is a very, very complex conversation. That's why I feel like what I can do to help everybody's point of view be heard is the best way that I can contribute to everybody's safety in this conversation."

Late last year, Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll asked the governor to call a meeting of county commissioners, state and federal legislators and others involved in coal mining to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency's re-evaluation of several southern West Virginia surface mine permits. The group decided to urge the EPA to move more quickly on the permitting process and to tell coal companies what they have to do to get surface mine permits.

Environmentalists protested not being invited to that meeting.

Kirkendoll was in attendance at the meeting, but left before the press conference due to other commitments.

Mingo County Commissioners Greg "Hootie" Smith and David Baisden attended the meeting.

"Mostly, it was the environmentalists' position that they are anti-mountaintop removal and surface mining and that they will not negotiate off that point," Smith said. "They want to talk about diversification when the coal industry won't be an issue in southern West Virginia, but they are overlooking our attempts at diversification now and the way we're using our land-use master plan to provide jobs for the future.

"If it weren't for surface mining, we would not have a wood industrial park in southern West Virginia and we would not have an air transportation park, nor four-lane highways and we wouldn't be working on a racetrack. All the areas of diversification we're promoting and working on were not addressed."

"Coal is over 50 percent of our tax base in Mingo County," Baisden said. "If we cut out coal mining, we have lost our way to survive. You show me another way and we'd be glad to look at it. You tell me how we're going to survive in southern West Virginia without coal and we're willing to look at it. We're willing to look at anything that will create revenue for our county government."