New program brings problems of Eastern Kentucky to campus

By: TRACY HANEY/Editor

Posted: 3/3/05

A new Center for Appalachian Studies' program is bringing a discussion of the environmental problems of Eastern Kentucky to campus.

Dave Cooper, of the Mountain Top Removal Road Show, talked about the damage of strip mining in Appalachia with students and faculty on Monday during the first of a five-program Citizen Activism in Appalachia series.

Cooper explained one of the main problems with strip mining is flash floods that can occur once trees are cut down. Other issues with strip mining include the removal of natural resources like ginseng and the lack of environmental protection enforcement from state and national agencies.

"Destroying the beauty of the area is not how to do economic development," Cooper said. "As long as we keep hoping coal is going to bail out Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, I don't think we are going to get anywhere."

As an alternative to mountaintop removal, Cooper said Eastern Kentucky should instead use the beauty of the land to attract tourists like Gatlinburg, Tenn.

"Instead of destroying the beauty of the area, they use it to their advantage," Cooper said.

Michael Sheliga, an assistant professor in the technology department, said he approves of mountaintop removal because it provides jobs for people in rural areas.

Cooper's responded by saying the strip mines actually take away jobs from underground coal miners, and most of the industry built on top of strip mines are places like prisons and landfills, where there isn't a lot of employment opportunity.

The amount of coal mining in a community does not correlate with the financial stability of an area, Cooper said. In fact many coal-mining communities are among the poorest in the state.

In order for a community to be economically successful, Cooper said four elements must be present: tourism, health care, education and industry.

"Ideally, you should have a diverse economy," Cooper said. "Mountaintop removal is not building a community, it's destroying a community."

The next Citizen Activism in Appalachia program, titled "Homeland Security Here at Home: Protection from Environmental Threats of Kentucky's WMDs," will be held from 3:30-4:30 p.m. March 21 at the Center for Appalachian Studies on Summit Street.

From 2:30-4:30 p.m. on April 11 a program on the slurry spill in Martin County will be held in the Crabbe Library, Room 108.

At 3:30 p.m. on April 18, "Land and How it Gets That Way" will be presented in the Crabbe Library, Room 108.

The final presentation will be held April 25 at 3:30 p.m. in the Crabbe Library, Room 108. The topic will be: "Exploring the True Cost of Coal with Stories from the Valleys."

For more information, call the Center for Appalachian Studies at 622-3065 or 622-1622.

Reach Tracy at
tracy_haney5@eku.edu