Activists speak against mountaintop removal mining

Larry Gibson’s family has lived on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia since the 1700s. He… Larry Gibson’s family has lived on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia since the 1700s. He watched his family home go from being the lowest point in town during the 1960s to the highest today because of mountaintop removal mining.

“I’ve been shot at many times, my dogs got killed, a cabin got burned, drive by shootings…” Gibson said about some of the responses elicited by his refusal to sell his land to coal mining companies. “For me, intimidation should have no place in this movement at all.”

Pitt’s Free the Planet hosted Gibson and Amber Whittington, both speakers for the Keeper of the Mountains foundation, a group that aims to end mountaintop removal. The two environmental activists spoke on their experiences living in the coal fields of West Virginia for an hour and a half to a group of about 40 students at Frick Fine Arts Building Wednesday night.

Gibson said that mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia negatively affects the lives of thousands of state residents.

In the process of mountaintop removal mining, coal companies use large amounts of dynamite to remove the top of a mountain, depositing the debris in the valley below and exposing thousands of tons of coal.

Whittington said she originally had no concept of coal’s impact on the environment and that to her, getting electricity had always seemed like simply “the flicking of a switch.” This changed when she moved to Raleigh County in 2009 and she and her family lived next to a coal-processing plant.

Gibson said that, despite visible clouds of black smoke, government officials ignored his claims of rampant pollution. He said he attended a campaign rally held by Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election and raised the issue of mountaintop mining to Obama, but the presidential candidate told him to speak with his local Department of Environmental Protection official.

Gibson said that wildlife in the area also feels the effects of mountaintop removal mining because of the destruction of natural habitats. He said one night while he was hosting a picnic, a black bear approached and immediately began taking food.

“When I lived up in the mountains, we had 7,500 acres. And with all that land, we’d only see bears occassionally,” Gibson said. “Now we have bears going through parks and breaking windows.”

When it comes to standing up against coal companies, Gibson said he will continue the fight.

“I know that I got to put myself on the line for something I believe in,” he said. “One thing I own is my opinion, my belief. You can take a beating and anything else, but you can’t take that from me.”