Appalachian Catholics tackle divisive mining issue

National Catholic Reporter, July 30, 2004 by Margaret Gabriel

Despite a pleasant decor that included patchwork quilts displayed on the walls and a large stonework fireplace, the tension in the meeting room at the Hindman Settlement School here was obvious. Assembled at a forum on mountaintop coal mining were members of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, a group fiercely outspoken against the practice, and representatives of the mining industry who are also Catholics. Committee organizers had invited people from both sides to discuss the issue that has divided local communities and even families.

"I've seen homes that are shaken by mining explosives and have cracks in their foundations," said forum participant Jerry Hardt. "But my neighbor delivers those explosives to mine sites, and another neighbor is a miner. And they're good fellows that are making a living. Our kids play together, our wives socialize, and that binds us together. Church brings us together and helps us work for a solution."

Coal produces 54 percent of the nation's electricity. Surface mining, of which mountaintop mining is one form, is used to extract 60 percent of the coal that is produced in the United States. It is a relatively low cost method, but critics say it is at the expense of the surrounding land, water and wildlife.

The Catholic Committee of Appalachia, in collaboration with the Lexington, Ky., diocese's Office for Peace and Justice, has sponsored prayer services at mountaintop removal sites. During the services, supplicants have prayed for healing for the mountain and for public awareness of the realities of mountaintop mining--specifically, its effect on the environment and people and property surrounding the mining sites.

When Bishop Walter Sullivan of the Richmond, Va., diocese heard about the services, he asked to see mining sites and hear the stories of those affected by mining. In response, the Catholic Committee of Appalachia organized "A Bishops' Forum on Mountaintop Removal," held in December 2003. All the bishops of dioceses within the Appalachian region were invited to the forum. In addition to Sullivan, Bishop Ronald Gainer of Lexington and Bishop Joseph Kurtz of Knoxville, Tenn., attended.

In mining's path

"We've gathered as members of the church," said Glenmary Ft. John Rausch, coordinator of the Lexington office of peace and justice. "We'll hear the cries of the poor and vulnerable and listen to people who work with mountaintop removal and ask the question: How should the church respond?"

Through tears, Maria Pitzer, a single mother who lives in the path of mountaintop mining, said the only way she can get groceries to her house is to bring them across a muddy gulf with a wheelbarrow; she can no longer drive her car close enough to the house to unload packages, and her two children no longer have a yard in which to play. The devastation, she said, is due to the blasting at nearby mining sites and because of the effects of mining debris tilling the creeks surrounding her property. "Officials drive by my house every day, and they know what's being done to our community," she said.

Hardt, a member of the grass-roots citizens' organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, said Pitzer's story is one of many told by people who are affected by mountaintop mining.

"I'd rather you think of me as a member of St. Luke Church," Hardt said. "I do what I do because of my faith." Hardt said that since becoming involved with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth in the late 1970s, he has observed the impact of mining in Eastern Kentucky and heard the discussion of the effects of coal burning on global warming and climate change. The organization has been actively involved in requiring coal companies to obey existing laws and lobbying to pass legislation concerning landowner rights, water quality and forestry.

Hardt said Kentuckians for the Commonwealth hopes that in addition to hearing about jobs and the tax revenue created by the coal industry, people can also hear about damage to homes, water sources and entire families because of disagreements about whether to sell family homesteads to mining companies.

Two members of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Pikeville, Ky., gave the perspective of people like themselves who make a living and support their children by working in the mining industry. They, along with representatives from the Kentucky Coal Association, said that coal can be extracted in ways that are both socially and ecologically responsible.

Kenny Schmidt, a worker for Horizon Natural Resources, told the group that half of Kentucky's coal production comes from surface mining and that mining operates on a "razor-thin" profit margin. "If we lose the market share from Kentucky, there's no replacement. We can't expand to deep mining, and families will be put on the welfare rolls."

Schmidt said columns in the diocesan newspaper implying that the coal industry is sinful offend him. "Pike is the biggest coal-producing county in the state, but nobody from a Catholic organization ever talked to anyone in [St. Francis of Assisi Parish] about this issue. You can see why I have a sore spot."