Hey y’all…

Earth month is over and I should have more time to play, so you should be seeing more of me soon (hooray!). Dawny was asking for more info about mountaintop removal (MTR), I plan to compile some info this weekend about what folks outside Appalachia can do… but in the meantime I’m postin’ this paper I wrote for Christianity. Just a disclaimer- our prof wanted this paper to be personal, I’m not so silly to think that this is a strictly academic work. Other than that… cheers.

Thankful list:

-the most beautiful solo campout last evenin’ under white pines

-the kiddies I got to play with last night at our “star” party

-today’s beautiful weather

-my silly housemates

-a lively potluck on Friday

-Monday’s night hike

-tears of joy J

-water

-David Wilcox music

Megan Naseman
The Christian Call for Action Against Mountaintop Removal (MTR)
GSTR 475
18 April 2007

Oftentimes there is a perceived gap between Christians and environmentalists. I have certainly been guilty of perpetuating this misconception in the past. As an environmentalist who views nature as a place of spiritual renewal, I had more in common with some Christians than I might have thought. Because I act out not out of faith, but out of a sense of obligation derived from my enormous gratitude for the living world, I thought there was fundamentally a difference between my activism and that of Christians. I viewed Christians as a group of people who took a leap of faith when it involved their personal salvation in another world, but remained skeptic in the face of facts surrounding the environmental degradation their children would undoubtedly inherit. After all, how could a person believe they are going to heaven without any tangible proof, and yet continually demand more and more facts before they can be convinced that global warming is a reality? I saw the Christian selective application of faith as selfish, centered around potential personal salvation, rather than certain tangible living conditions for current and future generations. However, when I stopped dichotomizing Christians and environmentalists, I saw that there is great synergistic potential between the groups. Also, I saw that the groups are not mutually exclusive. Furthermore, I learned that there truly is a Christian call for environmental stewardship. Because there are so many different facets of the environmental crisis we face today, I will narrow the focus of this paper to Mountaintop Removal (MTR). There is a Christian call, based in scripture, to end this ecological, spiritual, and cultural injustice.
After studying about MTR for the past four years, touring desecrated landscapes of former mining sites, witnessing an explosion at a mine site, speaking with activists and impacted citizens, leading letter writing campaigns, participating and in a plant survey to provide data for an unsuitable for mining petition I can explain from a multitude of perspectives reasons why MTR needs to stop. I find it very encouraging that there is Christian support for such arguments as well. To start from the beginning, a description of MTR is necessary. MTR is a mining procedure used to extract coal. Instead of tunneling into the mountains, MTR removes their tops, via explosives. The material removed, termed “fill”, is then put into adjacent valleys. This process is called “valley fill”. After being removed from the mountain, the coal is washed and the residue is put into slurry ponds.
This is problematic for a number of reasons. The explosives frequently damage nearby residences along with their wells for drinking water. The water quality is degraded by leaking sludge ponds and the deforestation of watersheds. Slurry ponds are frequently not cited, built, or maintained according to regulation. This creates the danger of the toxic sludge being released into the environment, which has actually happened. In 2000 the Martin County Coal sludge pod failed and released more than 300 million gallons of toxic sludge into the small community of Inez, Kentucky (Reece 124). This is just one example of the danger of haphazardly storing the slurry. There are 650 other such ponds throughout Appalachia. It would only cost one dollar more per ton of coal to use a mine site filter press which would eliminate the need for such ponds. MTR is predominately used throughout Appalachia, where the local communities rarely have resources to fight such atrocities.
This process of MTR sounds and is horrific, and there is a Christian call for response. The first and most obvious reason for this is the call is the violation of the commandment to love one another. Jesus said the most important commandment was to “love God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength” and that the second most important commandment is that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (New Oxford Annotated Bible Mark 12.29-32). MTR in Appalachia does not exhibit the loving one’s neighbor.
When one hears the phrase “love your neighbor” bringing cookies to new community members may come to mind. Ruining their health, livelihood, and environment does not. By no stretch of the imagination is it possible to believe that constructing dangerous sludge ponds above hollers is loving one’s neighbor. Can you love your neighbor and contaminate their drinking water? Beyond the mayhem already discussed there are even more consequences of MTR that do not demonstrate neighborly love.
One additional issue is that of coal trucks. If you have visited rural Appalachia you know that the roads wind between ridges and are typically in need of repair. You might have also noticed that the roads are not very wide. A coal truck is bigger than the traffic these roads were built to accommodate. Beyond that, most coal trucks are over the legal highway weight limit. One study found that 88 percent of coal trucks on eastern Kentucky roads were overloaded (Reece 158). Within a four year period, coal trucks contributed to accidents causing more than five hundred injuries and the death of 53 people in Kentucky alone (Reece 159). In addition to their oversized, overloaded nature, the trucks also bring coal dust that coats houses near mining sites. When the coal is being actively mined as many as one hundred trucks each day leave the site (Reece 158).
Another issue that does not show love for one’s neighbor is the effect of MTR on jobs in Appalachia. If a mountain is mined using MTR the project employs less people than a traditional mine would. Although in Kentucky 120 million tons of coal were mined last year, worth $3 billion dollars coal related jobs have decreased by 60 percent in the last fifteen years (Reece 58). Also fascinating is the fact that this coal came from the poorest communities in Appalachia and is the cheapest source of energy in the nation (Reece 58). MTR also impacts other industries besides mining. Tourism obviously is affected when the mountains people come to see are gone. There is no hope for any future logging jobs (including sustainable selective harvesting) after MTR because native trees will not grow without soil and cannot compete with non-native grasses that coal companies plant on MTR sites.
MTR violates another commandment as well. The commandment “thou shall not steal” comes into question when learning about how coal companies get property rights. Generations ago coal companies bought mineral rights to land. Today property owners are faced with mining that is radically different than what their ancestors agreed to. When Appalachians sold mineral rights they agreed to their property being mined by the only conceivable method at the time, underground mining. Now companies are going back to those places and turning them into wasteland. To me, that looks a lot like stealing.
Another reason for the Christian call to stop MTR is the concept of sacred wilderness. Psalms speaks of the majestic earth God has created, “You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken” (New Oxford Annotated Bible Psalms 104.5). Psalms are also clear who owns the earth “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it; the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers” (New Oxford Annotated Bible Psalms 24.102). Jesus retreats to the wilderness for prayer in Luke chapter 5. If the earth is created by God and wilderness is sacred enough for Jesus to retreat there for prayer, an argument can be made for the Christian call to stewardship. Furthermore, in Revelations there is a warning for those who destroy the earth “The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth” (New Oxford Annotated Bible Revelations 11.18).
The call for a Christian response to MTR has been heard by some and the movement is growing. Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics, claims that any social movement needs a base in spirituality (Wallis, sec. 1). Suggesting that the Christians need to heed the scriptures regarding this issue, but also that such religious uprising is essential to the movement. Allen Johnson, an evangelical reverend in West Virginia, has heard such a call and is on the frontlines of uniting Christianity and the fight against MTR. In response to the arguments about humans having dominion over the earth Johnson says “My wife and I had dominion over our children. We made the rules in the household. But our role as parents was not to exploit our children…That is dominion, and it’s the same dominion here on earth” (Roberts, par. 7). Johnson also sites first John chapter 3, verse 18 “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” as a call for Christians to act upon their faith (New Oxford Annotated Bible).
The Christian call to action to save the Appalachian Mountains is scripturally based in abiding by the commandments, being stewards of the earth God created, and the necessity of living one’s faith. I would argue that both Christians and environmentalists act out of their own conscience. When the two perspectives come together righteous activism with great potential is born.

Word Count: 1,585 words

Words cited or paraphrased: 294 words (18.5%)






Works Cited

Reece, Erik. Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.

New Oxford Annotated Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2001.

Roberts, David. “Go Tell it on the Mountain” Grist: Environmental News and Commentary. (07 Nov. 2006). 4 April 2007.

Wallis, Jim. “Taking Back the Faith.” Beliefnet (2005). 5 April 2007.