Dear Fox News,
I am highly disappointed in your news coverage on the evening of January 17, by Shepard Smith. I have never heard such bias and ignorance, reported in such a scathing tone by your news organization about the coal industry and the revocation by the EPA of this mining permit in West Virginia. My family and I have long been proponents of your news coverage and I have to say, you are “just plain dumb” as to the aesthetics of this topic and industry. The news media and the rest of the country, so like to portray the people of Appalachia in this manner, so maybe the tables have turned. We have lived in this great state, (one of the few in this country that is not financially in trouble) for the last 19 years. I am an accountant, bookkeeper and real estate agent and self-employed business woman who is married to, yes, the coal industry. It is my heritage and our way of life. My husband is a Professional Engineer with 28 years of mining experience and two engineering degrees from the University of Kentucky, and contrary to public perception, this industry has more great minds and degrees than your whole organization put together.
First, you need to learn exactly what mountain-top removal mining is. It is not the blasting off the tops of mountains and leaving a scarred earth. Second, maybe you could tell people it IS private property. These are NOT public lands, nor is this country a socialist regime. Third, you need to apprise yourself of what a valley fill truly is. Most all of the roads and shopping malls in these mountainous states have them. Why is it just the coal industry that can’t have them? Why has six Appalachian states been targeted with a moratorium on the permitting process? I believe this is discrimination. Wonder if the ACLU will take my case of discrimination? Fourth, maybe you could define all these “streams” being polluted. Most of these are nothing but gullies, that carry the water away when it rains. That would, of course, make you learn the difference between a perennial, intermittent or ephemeral “stream”. Fifth, you could find the good people of these areas, a place to live as there is little or no flat land for housing or industry. It is known, but not greatly reported why there is such poverty in these areas. The communities cannot survive without the industry infrastructure and growth to sustain the increase in population. Sixth, maybe you could explain to these great United States that electricity does not come out of the switch in the wall.
The coal industry is one of the most dangerous industries in these great United States and the most regulated. We have come a long way over the past 100 years and I am very proud of our companies, workers, and our communities in their stewardship of the land and our safety records.
This act by the EPA and the government will have far greater impact than you can ever perceive. This will affect every state that has a mining operation or future reserve of coal or hard rock. No company will ever invest in these operations at their potential level of productivity only to have it taken all away by an “administration change”. This to me leads to loss of production, downsizing, and a loss of economic empowerment for this whole country. This permit was reviewed for 10 years, people! The company also did a totally voluntary , (means, not required) environmental impact study at a cost of over a million dollars. The mine has been in operation for two years. The cohort reporting with Mr. Smith said it was “only 250 jobs”! These people that are working now will have no jobs and there will be no future jobs. Every ton of coal mined in this state, affects EVERY county, with coal severance tax dollars and this whole country for the low cost of energy.
This to me is National Security!!!! I cannot understand why this administration, even when running for office, was set to shut this industry down. Have you ever asked yourself why? Could we be getting kick-backs from China and other foreign countries? Who is funding this small group of environmental extremists that have no jobs and live off of our hard-working tax dollars? Foreign investors? Is our government selling us out to China , just like they have to the Middle East ? The oil industry can set their prices, the coal industry cannot. We have out-sourced all our other great industries and jobs in this country, is it any wonder that we have such a national debt. Is this our goal for our country, to be dependent on foreign countries for everything we have?
Thank you for your “fair, balanced and unafraid” reporting, but maybe you need to dig a little deeper!
Thank you so much,
E. Nicole Spradlin
Registered Independent (in case you were wondering)
Chapmanville, West Virginia