Every Mine Has a Dog

“Coal is a curse…mining is the most dangerous job in the world.” --Jim Webb

“Reclamation is like putting lipstick on a corpse.” Harry Caudill

CAM (Central Appalachia Mining) 3 Mile Job
Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining (MRCM)

We ride our bicycles up a steep rocky road next to a river bed. Eventually we are in the middle of a dry canyon surrounded by dense conifer trees. A lone Pepsi vending machine is perched on an outcropping, bright blue and red against the sandstone.

A white truck covered in hardened cracked mud plows down the road. When the dust settles, we ask Johnny Sexton if we could go up over the flattened hilltops to look at the mine. Unfortunately we can't because everyday at 4:30 the mine is scheduled to blast. It is 4:15. A series of hefty trucks appear on the horizon of the hill, tearing towards us like a herd of spooked cattle. “You see everyone is leaving for the blast…we had a guy killed here last week, rock came out of the sky landed on the other side of the ridge-line; hit him on the head. It was terrible. Nothing like that has happened in five years.” Johnny cracks the door, and spits at the ground, a black puddle of tobacco sludge. “Just terrible, I was called to a supina, had to testify in court, was held responsible for a freak accident...I’ve seen a lot of people die, in Vietnam in car crashes... I am an emergency technician, when this guy went down, I grabbed my bag and ran towards him, but it was too late.”

Johnny concedes that mountaintop removal damages the ecosystem. “How could it not? Here we are busting up solid rock. It messes up the entire water table.” He says that because of increased levels of toxins and sulfur in the ground water most small towns in Kentucky that had previously run off of well water are now on a city reviser. On the other hand, he loves the adrenaline rush. “You think you get high when you get speed...try blowing up a mountain! We work all day, set up, make sure every things in place and then I get to push the button. We’ve got systems now where you can be a mile away and still cause the blast."

Sirens blare over the intercom in his truck. It’s hot and I can smell gasoline burning—I’m thinking about what it’s like to blow up an ancient mountain. “Siren means, all clear, set to blast in one minute.” He turns the engine of his car off and we wait in the silence for the sound. Kate says "It’s like waiting for the world to end." All three of us hold our breaths. But we hear nothing. “Well, that’s it. I bet you girls can head up and get a look around."

Every mine has a dog. CAM 3 Mile Job has two dogs. A brown and white dog called Killer Bobby, and a fierce looking black dog named Susie. We met Greg, the night shift foreman who’s worked at this mine for 16 years. He, like the majority of miners we’ve talked to, has been in the business for 30. He works 4--14 hour shifts a week on a yearly salary. Although he's been in the industry for over half of his life, he still does not have the power to decide what gets blasted. He said a lot of big businesses like Wexford Holding Company in NJ own and operate these mines deep in Kentucky.

He wanted to be an accountant, but his wife had to have a hysterectomy at 28 and options changed. He drives us up the mountains, deeper into the mine. Over his intercom we hear something about "copperhead and pigtails," a statement undoubtedly referring to the two of us girlies riding in his truck. We laugh and tease him about how lucky he is to be showing us around. He says he'll probably get a lot of shit for it tonight.

Three mile job is extensive. First we pass through a series of partially reclaimed mountain tops. Perfectly curved flattop hills covered in native grasses and a few sections of reforested Locus. When asked if he remembers what the mountains use to look like on this site he replies, yes of course. We drive over the ridge line into an arid moonscape of pillars of cracked rock and deep craters. An army of massive trucks, with wheels twice the size of human beings, stand ready to battle the stars.

Greg believes that Surface Mining and Control Reclamation Act (SMCRA) is a good thing. After coming down a steep chute, we approach a series of artificial ponds which are used as part of SMCRA to catch the water and sediment from the mine. I asked if the ponds held toxic material and he replied that they didn't. He disagreed with Johnny saying that the MRCM did not directly destroy the drinking water in the area. He reiterated that if MRCM is done mindfully it is a safe a reliable way of extracting coal.

The explosive is comprised of 94% Ammonium Nitrate and 6% Diesel. He says that the process of clearing the shot rocks is very efficient. A front-end loader relocates all of the rock debris. The revealed seam of coal is collected and loaded onto trucks and taken to trains where it is shipped to the highest bidder, usually ending up in a power plant blast furnace. We drive on top of the newly revealed coal seam which is 6-18 inches thick. The next seam of coal below this one is an estimated 26-28 feet underground; it is a 4 foot deep seam. We examine several revealed seams, the dense black is filled with waves of a rustier color. Greg explains that the rust is sulfur, but that the coal in this job is relatively low sulfur. This coal has a high British Thermal Unite (BTU). The area that was blasted today is a typical size: 51 feet of mountaintop were blasted off in a 90' by 90' area. Before blasting, 40 holes, spaced approximately 16 ft apart, were drilled in a grid pattern across the 90' square surface. The mostly sandstone and shale shelf is drilled with a 6 ¾” or 7 7/8” diameter rotary drill all the way to the top of the desired coal seam, in this case 51 feet deep. Each of the holes is filled with 40 lb. of explosives--ANFO. The top 8 feet of the hole is filled with drill cuttings.

Greg projects another 100 years of coal in these mountains. As we ride out of the mine we all imagine that a long time ago all of these mountains were covered in seaweed at the bottom of the ocean.

Berea, KY

So it may have taken us longer than we thought, but ten days later, with two days rest and we are through the Appalachian Mountains! We slept in a barn last night, with Smokey the colt and George the calf to keep us company. Everyone has been sweet, we've been given places to stay, homemade spoonbread in jars, good hot meals, and about 200$ in donations, without ever asking for anything. The people of this countryside are sweeter than peaches. We seem to have made it out of coal country, out of the poorest county in the country- which happens to have the worst tasting water. Everyone buys water, why? The coal mines have made the wells really sulfuric- but the city water(highly chlorinated) doesn't taste any better. The streams are all running dry due to a drought, and there is an abundance of trash- both burning and not. We met nice man today who was pucking up trash from the side of the road.

Whitesburg, KY

Well who'd a thunk it. Last night we had our first run-in with a hoser- that's right, some drunk-up hill-billy riding back and forth in his car tryin to get us to pull over. Of course we payed him no mind and stopped a woman driver on the road and asked if she wouldn't mind driving behind us for a while till he left us alone. Sure enough, he took off with his tail between his legs. We ended up riding with this very nice lady and her son William all the way to the next town. We talked to her about it, she spoke with a sweet low drawl of a coutry singer, beautiful- reminded me of my mothers mother, she said, "That's my neighbor. He's got a wife and kid, it just makes sick." So we were safely delivered to the firehouse where we were told the city park'd be the best place for us to hull up. A night of false starts, waking every hours or so hoping it was daylight. When it finally came we were about to leave town and I just felt like I needed something hot in my belly. So we went over to the pharmacy where we'd had dinner the night before, and ordered two coffees and some toast. Got to talking with the lady's sittin there and they suggested we stop in at the Appalshop(appalshop.org), a non-profit recording studio/film studio/radio station. Shiela and Clea sent us off with a very nice and unexpected donation, and we stopped in 20 miles later to meet their cousin, Jim Webb. He introduced us to DJ Willard Hall who was hosting the Scuttlehole Gap Get-Together and would you believe it, he put us on the air! The radio show is a bluegrass show, and we sang the other night on top of Big A Mountain in VA at a bluegrass get together. So now when people ask us what kind of music do we make we say, Newgrass Artrock. Thank you to all who got us on the air. See you in hollywood! Kate

Emilie's Coal Mine Report

Cherokee Coal Mine just outside of Honaker, Virginia

After eating for a good two hours at a sweet country kitchen—the usual—breakfast on the road, break your belt eggs over-easy/medium, home fries, biscuits with gravy, sausage patties and an omelet and several cups of coffee, we made it up the first hill. We were just about to enter the Breaks Interstate Park between Virginia and Kentucky, when we found the Cherokee Coal Mine!

We met George, 60 yrs, who has worked at this mine for the last 10 years. Now he works above ground, but he worked underground for 27 years. He showed us around above grown operation facilities, machinery, maps…gave us some very refreshing cold water and tips on how to avoid copperheads and rattlesnakes.

The Cherokee coal mine is the lowest mine within the surrounding mountains. It is not a strip-mine, but higher-up the mountain is stripped. They produce enough coal a day to fill 90-100 coal trucks. Each truck carries 40 tons (which is a mixture of rock and coal). This mine produces a very pure coal which is then mixed with other coal (with higher sulfur content) from the surrounding mines. The coal is then loaded onto trucks and taken to shipyards. Most of the coal from this mine is shipped to JAPAN--amazing from the Appalachian mountains of eastern Virginia all the way across the sea. Basically the coal is sold to the highest bidder. Recently the coal has sold for 180 dollars a ton, which is the most it’s ever sold for.

The mine is in operation 24/7. There are 4 shuttle cars in each section of the mine. And 12 men plus the boss on each shuttle car. No women presently employed at Cherokee. The miners work 10 hour shifts at $19 an hour, and overtime. On the sixth day they get double time. The bosses make between 70-80 thousand dollars a year.

These days the miners are traveling about 4 miles into the ground on shuttle cars with ripper heads for removing the coal. The tunnel is 20 feet wide by 43 inches high. Miners are not required to wear a respirator, only some do. Fan ventilation is required in all areas of the mine that are open and accessible to miners. Areas of the mine that are no longer in use are sealed off. The mine is also equipped with carbon monoxide detectors.

The miners take their lunch break underground. Smoking is not allowed but chewing tobacco suffices. Most reuse containers for holding ripper heads and bits as lunchboxes. Gary, who has worked underground for the last 36 years, loves fresh fruit for lunch. “I carry a fruit basket in my bucket.” He loves working as a miner following in the footsteps of his father. George on the other hand, wishes he had stayed in school, and would love to be hunting and fishing instead of mining.

Both George and Gary are interested in the idea of alternative energy--wind, solar etc. as coal is not a sustainable form of energy. They also say that there is not a lot of information available about progressive energy in the area, and that, as of late, coal mining is a thriving industry.

Photos from the mountains...

Miners off to Work

To see a video of the miners riding out to work go to: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8491973480075724288&hl=en

Damascus, VA

The bikeshop boys in Damascus convinced us to stay and do a show at their laundromat so we stayed in the soggy mountains for another day. The show was interesting, mostly men and some teenagers. At first the youngers were really wierded out, and then later seemed interested and inspired. Ate dinner with the nicest guy in town, Larry, who made us two prokchops a piece! We gobbled 'em down and had extra for lunch the next day. We saw a fourteen-year-old country singer, Ashkin, singing about broken hearts and all at the Old Mill where they make some really great potato chips. Met a woman Lorrie who had a broken heart of her own and are hoping to see her up in Ithaca some time for a real nice reunion.