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 decided to start by looking over Dorothy, West Virginia.
Dorothy is a small community in Clear Fork with a couple of hundred residents. It is a very peaceful and decent community. It is little communities such as this one scattered throughout the Appalachia’s wherein you will find the heart of Appalachia.
Admittedly, the houses are newer – the four wheel drives sit higher and have more stuff, a few things have changed but a couple of things remain the same – these are the people of Appalachia and these communities have survived for generations.
This community has a monster approaching and with one explosion after another, the beast gets ever closer.
The holes around the edge of this ridge is where explosives will be placed and detonated in sequence from one side to the other.
Flyrock occurs when the explosives detonate sending shrapnel like rock skyward. Obviously, with the amount of variables, there is no way to predict where the rocks will fall. Wind currents, force and direction of the blast, debris content – size and weight, depth of the charges… numerous variables come in to play.
People in war torn countries hear an air raid siren before the inevitable blast. If you are in one of those countries and you hear the air raid siren – you’re pretty much helpless to do anything about it, except take cover. In the mountains – you get a series of three blast warning signals a full three minutes before the blast and then all hell breaks loose for a little bit and you’re pretty much helpless to do anything about it, except take cover.
You could pray for a couple of things, one – you don’t end up with a meteor coming through the roof of your home and parking itself under your living room sofa, or you could pray the blast doesn’t dislodge a boulder and send it through your neighborhood like a bowling ball from hell.
I can say this with certainty – if I lived in Dorothy – I would be furious.
If we can’t stop the blasting – then they should give residents personal notice of when they intend to rock the world. There should be a new law introduced that would require the coal operators to give residents ample notice of an upcoming blast.
Since I am going that far – I think Don Blankenship should have to deliver the message himself to every home within the concussion range and apologize to the families for destroying everything they know and only when the residents are satisfied he has groveled enough, should we let the blast continue. I bet it would get a lot more peaceful in the Appalachia’s.
When one tugs at a single thing in nature; he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
Hi,
I recently came across your blog and as an Australian who hiked and loved the Appalachian Trail, I applaud your efforts to protect this magnificent region.
‘Appalachia’ is for me one of the most beautiful words in the ‘English’ language. Keep up the good work and interesting reports.
Wow! That is terrifying! Look how close the community is to the blast zone!!!’
And after reading the post about the 3-year-old, I’m even angrier.
So I’d better let you know now that I’m giving you a blog award (it’s at my site– pick it up when you have time) before I start ranting about how much I hate friggin’ Don Blankenship and the irresponsibile actions of his company!
Mountaingoat – thank you. Your comment is much appreciated.
Rebecca – I would say I’m sorry for making you mad but to be honest – this post was intended to make people angry.
Thank you very much for the award and the kind words on your blog.
It’s all good. In an era where more people vote for American Idol than for our own president, it’s good to see someone getting the word out about things that matter.
Congrats. You definitely deserve a blogging award. Hopefully, it sends some traffic your way. (Not that I have much to send to you, but we do what we can.
)
Keep writing. This is an awesome blog, and a treasure-trove of information about Mountaintop Removal — something I know very little about, despite the fact that I grew up practically next door to Walker Machinery’s Belle headquarters.