A few weeks ago I wrote a post entitled Bolt Mountain, Under Attack!! That may have been a little dramatic at the time. Mainly because I wasn’t 100% sure if what I was seeing was a mountaintop removal site. It was too far in the distance. Friday, with my friend from Ohio, I went searching [...]
A few days ago I wrote this post showing downed trees for a power line right-of-way cleared by Massey Energy.
The right-of-way is located on the Clear Fork side of Kayford Mountain. These photos detail more specifically what it is that bothered me about the clear cut.
The power line is laying in this ravine. The [...]
Why do I persist with this crusade against mountaintop removal?
The tree covered hilltop is the location of Larry Gibson’s family cemetery - the island in the madness. To have to get permission from a coal operator to visit ones deceased relatives is too far over the line for me. This is another reason I [...]
Some visitors are probably wondering why you haven’t seen photos from the mountaintop removal going on at Kayford posted by me yet. It is simple - I have so many photos and they all can be posted with individual posts. I have so much to say I couldn’t decide where to start. So I finally [...]
Continue reading about WARNING!!! Flyrock May Be Closer Than It Appears
A cool thing about a blog - you can make a prediction of future events and if they come true you can lead the I told you so back to the original prediction. If it doesn’t come true - it doesn’t matter because the prediction will be forgotten anyway.
I have a prediction. It has to [...]
Continue reading about A Blog Prediction - Marsh Fork Becomes Fairdale
I feel pretty much like crap today and had no intention of even getting on the blog until I realized the date. February 29…
“February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, and is called leap day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the [...]
I hear it all the time - I’ve never seen so many deer and bear in this area.
I wonder what those same people thought would happen when you destroy thousands of acres of natural wildlife habitat. When bears come out of the mountains to eat out of garbage cans and dumpsters then there is a [...]
Continue reading about Animal Migration & Mountaintop Removal
One thing a reader to my blog needs to keep in mind when I talk about mountaintop removal I’m looking at it not only as a resident of the coal fields but also as an avid hiker. This blog is entitled The BackWoods Drifter because I love to hike West Virginia’s backwoods. Being as that [...]
I’ve done a marginal amount of talking concerning the Marsh Fork school. The school is highly controversial. It is actually controversial in a couple of different aspects.
The first being it’s vicinity to a coal silo and prep plant. The plant generates a lot of airborne coal dust and they actually spray chemicals on the coal [...]
In 2001 there were 713 coal slurry impoundments in the US most of those in West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky. http://www.geotimes.org/dec01/NNcoal.html
Imagine how many of these slurries exist today. I often wonder if these toxic ponds can ever be reclaimed. Some slurry ponds are the same as valley fills and can hold a few billion [...]
