[Old School]

Yes I can look up the permits and give them to you.

As for as the poverty issue, yes I can lay blame on the coal industry. They have dominated this region for over 100 years, and really have isolated the region to any more job opportunities. But yet coal companies claim that they help this region so much, when in reality they don't.

You ask where our economy would be without coal, and my answer is that it would be in the same shape. By simply comparing average family income, and poverty rate between coal producing and non coal producing counties you really get the same numbers. Here are some examples.

Compare coal producing counties in the region to non-producing counties.

Coal Producing:
Knott county: Pop. 17,649
Average income for household: $20,733
Percent of people below poverty line: 31.10%

Perry County: Pop. 29,390
Average income: $22,809
Below poverty line: 29.10%


Non Coal producing:
Powell County: Pop. 13,273
Average income for household: $25,515
Percent below poverty line: 23.50%

Rowan County: Pop. 22,094
Average income: $28,055
Below poverty line: 21.30%

All info from wikipedia.

As you can see coal makes no noticeable difference at all to a counties economy. Another lie from the coal companies.

Explain to me how the coal industry has isolated this region, when in all reality they have help open the area up, without the coal industry would we have the airports, 4 lane highway that were built to help transport coal, prisons (which pay as much or more than the mining companies do) and the many more business that are in operation today because of coal mining.

These non coal producing counties you mentioned, for instance Powell County's close proximity to the Lexington/Winchester area enables many residents to work in the numerous industries, and therefor are not solely relying on just one industry to support the whole county. As for Rowan County, Morehead State University and the Rowan County School system are probably the largest employers, but over the last 6-10 years Rowan County has really developed with many new business locoating to thte area, so they also do not rely on one industry to support them.