Kentucky writers speak out against mountaintop removal

Next article: Muslims Threaten Violence, Christians Just Shrug
Previous article: Da Vinci Poster Removed

Share with your friends and followers:

I wrote before about mountaintop mining in Kentucky. A recent article in the Kentucky Herald-Leader is interesting because it mentions at least one author actually affected by the practice, Letcher County native Artie Ann Bates.

One of the most impassioned speakers was Artie Ann Bates, a writer and native of Letcher County, whose family’s homeplace has been ravaged by strip mining.

“I could go stark raving mad if I think about all the things that have gone wrong in this place,” Bates said. All the mountains in the area have been lowered by at least 150 feet by mining, she said.

I suppose extremely passionate people who think this is a pretty cool way to treat the earth could argue that Letcher County is not really in Eastern Kentucky. That’d be tough, but have at it. Or perhaps there’s some ad hominem reason why Ms. Bates is not credible. Please, let us hear it.

Read more: Kentucky writers speak out against mountaintop removal

Share with your friends and followers:

The URL to trackback this post is:
http://kevinbasil.com/2006/04/28/kentucky-writers-speak-out-against-mountaintop-removal/trackback/

One Response to “Kentucky writers speak out against mountaintop removal”

1. 

   Jim Says:
   November 11th, 2006 at 11:53 pm

   There are 2 sides to evey story. Yes, mountaintop mining may look bad, however so does any heavy construction. It is no different from highway construction in the mountains. You know there really is no alternative right now to our coal usage, except nuclear and it would take 10 to 20 years to build enough nukes to supply enough energy to support our current lifestyle. Everything we use now, including these computers is based on coal. take a look at some of the land uses after mining in E. KY. Some of the most valuable land in that part of the state are reclaimed mine sites.