There and back again – Kayford Mountain
Posted on March 11, 2010 | By Denny Tyler | 1 Comment
A couple of days ago I was back on Kayford Mountain with my friend Chuck Nelson. He went there to discuss MTR with a group of college students and I just kind of tagged along.
It has been a few months since I last visited Kayford and I was curious how much the site had changed. Besides another section of the mountain being gone the only other thing I noticed was the attempt at reclamation in the area where a high-wall was the last time I was there. That area is in the foreground of the next photo.
In the spring this area will turn green but it will still be without topsoil, unable to support any kind of habitat, and the water will run off of it unimpeded almost like water running off of a metal roof.
Since I was on Kayford last I actually had someone post a comment to one of my videos of the Kayford mine site asking me what I thought of it now that that one area had been reclaimed. I still get sick to my stomach seeing it. I still can’t believe there are those of us that think this is somehow better than it was before the mining. This is camouflage nothing more and nothing less. It is grass sprayed from the back of a truck and engineered to grow wherever it lands. By the time the mountains get to where they need engineered grass to turn them green again everything they were or will ever be is firmly buried in the past. Reclamation? Give me a break.
Actually the last time I saw Kayford Mountain was from an airplane where I took the next photo of the mine site facing one of the largest valley fills I have personally seen.
This valley fill is located in the vicinity of Dorothy, West Virginia. It is hard to get a handle on it’s size until you see it from the ground.
In my mind there is still no justification for the sheer amount of destruction brought on our mountains and valleys by way of mountaintop removal.
If you want to impress me with your ingenuity go back to less destructive methods of coal mining or better yet make a move that will take us beyond the point where we feel we have to justify this amount of destruction to keep the lights burning. No matter what you do – stop mountaintop removal coal mining, quit trying to justify it with lame excuses and I will be rightfully impressed. Until then, the battle rages on.
Our remnants of wilderness will yield bigger values to the nation’s character and health than they will to its pocketbook, and to destroy them will be to admit that the latter are the only values that interest us. – Aldo Leopold
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November 16th, 2010 @ 8:32 pm
I was walking through the yard one day when I was five years old looking up at the beautiful mountain wondering about all the beauty that surrounded me. Trees and plants everywhere and grass under my feet. I looking down at my bear feet in the grass feeling every blade and tickle on my feet when suddenly I heard a voice as loud as can be. A deep voice with assurance that said, “I’m GOD.” That’s all He said to me. I ran to find my mother and asked,”Who is GOD?” She replied,”It’s time for you to start going to church.” “You will learn about him there.”
Now I am 53 years old and I am working toward a degree in “Environmental Studies”. I lost my job last year. It was off-shored overseas. Why am I getting a degree in Environmental Studies? Because I have nothing else to lose. You are destroying my very breath, you are robbing me of my God’s glory. I’ll stand to lose my life to save our mountains. I am not afraid of anyone. I know who GOD is. He does not like what he sees. Our world is our treasure and our mountains here in West Virginia are part of God Himself. He put them here for us not to destroy, but to realize that He does exist. He will return with vengeance because vengeance is His and I will be standing in front of Him. He who put the very breath in me and knew what inspired me, that someday I would have to tell my story and let everyone know that GOD is watching every step we take.
I will not rest until the mountain top removal stops. I plan to spend the rest of my life devoted to the restoration of our mountains that have been destroyed by Coal Companies. Our laws are going to be changed. I will not rest until the mountain top removal stops!
REMEMBER MY NAME……..HE KNOWS ME WELL.