On Thursday, January 21, I drove to Charleston, West Virginia to photograph a debate between Massey Energy’s CEO Don Blankenship (pictured above) and Robert Kennedy Jr. (pictured below), President of Waterkeeper Alliance. My goal was to drive from Raleigh to Charleston, shoot the event, then drive straight back to Raleigh, some 660+ miles round-trip. The debate, hosted by the University of Charleston, was titled Forum on the Future of Energy, and was intended to “advance the national discussion about U.S. energy policy and its impact on jobs, the environment, the economy, and national security.” The debate can be seen in its entirety here.
Having just driven this same route, and having a heck of time doing it (you can read more about that here), I was admittedly a little nervous about possibly getting stuck again. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Other than some freezing rain in Bluefield, West Virginia, the drive was uneventful. I arrived in Charleston with plenty of time to pick up my media credential and scout the location in the rain, where I met Jordan Freeman. Jordan is an independent videographer and primary shooter for the documentary film Coal Country. It just so happened that I’ve been reading the companion book to the film and had it in the backseat of my car. Small world.
The event was well organized and the staff were very helpful in answering questions. The only issue I had was that 99% of the media folks that showed up were only given access to the overflow gymnasium where the event was being fed live. The lighting was horrible and you can only imagine the way sound carries in a gym. The staff did, however, make sure we had access to both participants after the debate.
Most of those who came to listen in the gym were miners and their families. There were a few from the environmental crowd, but they were easily drowned out by the applause that followed Mr. Blankenship’s rebuttals to Mr. Kennedy. I talked to a couple of guys who work at Massey’s Boone County, West Virginia Progress Coal operation, Todd Agosti, a purchasing manager and Kevin Deaton, a safety manager. They shared that they had both spent years working other jobs. Mr. Agosti managed a bank in Kentucky for six years and Mr. Deaton worked at the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Kentucky for seven years. Both men turned to coal for better pay and benefits. Mr. Agosti’s father was an underground miner. I asked him his thoughts on the decline of miners, specifically in West Virginia and Kentucky over the last three decades. Some figures suggest there were more than 250,000 coal miners in West Virginia in 1975. Today there are fewer than 20,000. Mr. Agosti said he felt that improvements in technology and the efficiency of new equipment were the primary reasons for the decline. “Thirty-five or forty years ago, you also had a man on an elevator that would push the button for you. Times have changed,” he said.
It’s true that times have changed, but the landscape in Central Appalachia is changing too. It’s being changed on a scale that few people can truly grasp, much less think about. As our nation continues to rely on coal for half of its electricity, there are issues that have to be addressed. How can we make sure jobs are created and stay in Central Appalachia? How do we still mine coal without leveling mountains in the process? How do we strike a balance between renewable energy and using our natural resources? How do you tell a miner that’s providing for his family that you want to shut his mine down and take his job? How do you tell a mother whose well has been contaminated with toxic sludge that coal, under the banner of national security, is more important than the health of her family?
There must be a balance of stable jobs and environmental responsibility in this region. We have to be able to mine coal without destroying the oldest mountains in the world and we have to be able to provide work for one of the poorest regions of the country. I doubt I’ll be around to see that kind of balance in my lifetime, but while I’m here, I’m going to use my cameras to bring as much attention to this issue as I can. These are real people and real issues that affect us all. Think about that the next time you flip the switch.
