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//Coal Country//

//Coal Country// is a 2009 film directed by Phylis Geller about the coal industry and mountain top removal. The film discusses the over looked sustainability issues of acquiring and refining coal instead of the well known issues with its use. The focus is on informing the viewers the problems on the 2 million tons of coal collected in the miles of mines in the Appalachians by Argus Energy. People that would benefit most from watching this movie are American citizens and hikers who have no idea what is happening to the mountains and small communities.

Mountain top removal is an efficient method of harvesting coal that was developed in the 1980s that the company uses on the Appalachian mountains. It was frightening to see a well known national landmark that was assumed to be protected with huge gaps in the rolling green mountains of flat, barren land. Most people think that areas like this are protected but the movie reveals to the viewer they are not. The intensity of the disturbing images of destruction was nicely enhanced by the melancholy folk music playing in the background.

The removal affects the entire mountain ecosystem. One of the most crucial parts affected is the natural mountain streams that feed the vegetation and life in the areas on and around the mountain. Cutting down the trees and blasting the rock leave the remaining elements to erode and slide down the rest of the mountain. One point made was how the coal companies have no commitment to the future of the mountains. A rebuttal the coal companies presented was the newly begun method of reclamation. Coal mines are beginning to be required by law to replant the areas. The problem is this solution is only temporary because of the structural damage the plants die off in a few years and the coal companies are relieved of responsibility.

Processing coal leads to a number of issues as well. To treat the coal it is washed with a chemical liquid that is later dumped in containment areas in the mountains that look like artificial lakes. The chemicals are toxic and the possibility of a leak is very dangerous. The processing also stirs up a lot of coal dust that pollutes the air and coats everything around the plant. It ends up inside people’s home and lungs. A solution that was already implemented was to dome the refineries to keep the dust enclosed. The effects can be seen in the fact that the coal communities have a higher mortality rate than anywhere else in the state. Unfortunately, not much emotion was invoked because the movie didn’t present much information on the health effects coal has had on the people and didn’t have the supporting visuals the land destruction evidence had.

The problems are not just with the coal companies but the law as well. Some judges have refused to pass and enforce clean air regulations in the state because it will affect the companies and they believe the coal industry is too important to be shut down. They argue that the health effects are an exaggeration and that the potential unemployment and hit to the economy are larger problems.

The best solution is not reducing the problems with damage control but to eliminate the problem all together by eliminating the use of coal. No matter what the use of it releases carbon into the air and mountains and animal habits are destroyed. Instead there should be a new industry introduced that can provide energy and jobs to the people. It was uplifting to see how the community was making its own efforts to solve the problem. One of the methods they were implementing was using solar power because it has four times the capacity of coal. It is more expensive but worth the cost for saving the lives of the community and the earth.

I looked online to see if the company had published any responses to this film either in argument supporting its cause or defeat with some addition of environmental or community efforts. I was surprised to not even be able to find a company website. I was even more surprised by what I found on the Kenova and Sylvester, West Virginia, cities’ websites. Kenova is the city that the featured coal company Argus Energy is located in and Sylvester is the town the long time miner lived in that was a coal town with coal festivals. Neither website had any mention of coal on it. Kenova’s city motto is ironically “the Western gate of the mountain state.” Slyvester Site [] Kenova []