The mine permitting process in WV is a perfect example of the intersection of corruption and pollution. The coal industry now realizes that it is only viable if it can stick others with the cost of production. So, they need politicians on their side to keep doing that. In WV Massey Energy pays out big campaign contributions. What do they get in return? Well when local residents in Coal River tried to get a wind farm instead of having their mountains blown apart by Massey, leaving behind a scarred landscape and vast pools of toxic sludge like the one that recently spilled in Tennessee, the governor sided with Massey and granted a mining permit. Now residents are going to court:
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