[TidesHoss32]

I have got the perfect solution. Ive read and read everything you post and your completely biased view on coalmining. Why not pull every single miner from underground, away from the strip mines, and pay each of them $58,000 a year to clean the streams, feed the animals, and plant some friggin trees on those mountain tops that every one of you environmentalists cry about. Yes these jobs arent the most friendly for our environment, but you all will never mention the fact that hundreds of thousands of men have fed their familes (which will never sink in to you people). And those appalshop idiots, the ones that hate our law, government, our president, who cry and complain that our government cant do anything right (ring a bell?), with those pathetic "I went to the mountaintop..and it wasnt there" bumper stickers on thier cars, can have your damn mountaintops. So go ahead, shut it all down. And after about two months, when your power bill for your 800 square foot house is $3900 a month, dont go screaming that "you all need to do something! This is ridiculous!".. And dont give anybody your "tourism brings in more money than mining" garbage either. Tourism dont keep the lights on, pal. Tourism dont keep your kids cool in 96 degree weather. Yeah, tourism might just bring in more money, but stop mining and see how far tourism will carry your sorry argument. You say coal has been a huge part of your family, and your upbringing. Well, while your biting the hand thats fed you, others, like myself are appreciative of the fact that coal has fed our families, including mine.

I'm so happy that finally someone in standing up against these coal companies and their illegal practices. The people in the coal industry try to throw out false "facts" and say they are helping the people of this region. It's just not true, the environmental damage caused by MTR is immeasurable, we're just now starting to see some major effects of old abandoned undergound mines as they leak out coal waste. This is contaminating our water and killing off native fish species at an alarming rate. Imagine what this region will be like when the effects of MTR really start to show.
As far as the coverage of the martin county incident, it did get coverage , but not the mass national coverage that would be expected from such a huge environmental disaster. The spill put 300 million gallons of coal waste, which included water, coal, and the chemicals used to clean it for sell into the market, into the big sandy river. The Exxon-Valdez spill, in which 10 million gallons of oil was spilled, got way more national coverage. Just google it, the Exxon spill gives 580,000 hits, The martin county spill, which was 30 times larger, barely musters 50,000 hits. So to say the event was covered is a joke, it was just a small story mentioned between the "real" headlines.