[Coach_Owens87]

[quote=Coach_Owens87]

I don't care what the total income is, 9 Billion Dollars has a huge economic impact!! Surely you're not that blinded to realize that. I'll tell you again Coal companies have no input on where or how the tax money is spent, and they can't tell their employees how to spend their hard earned money. You need to contact Frankfort if you have a problem with the way they spend the Tax dollars.

Each State has sightly different law concerning reclamation, first of all each company has to obey all state and federal laws (you can contact the West Virginia DEP or the Kentucky Department of Mines and Mineral to obtain information on each State) yes that means that you woiuld have to go to another site other than that Environmental Site you only visit now.

You are correct each company has to post a bond for their mining permit, apparently you're not familiar with the "Applicant Violator System" this is how it works, for each mining permit application the owners and officers of every company must be listed with their SS#. Once a Coal company goes into bond forfeiture a couple of things happen first they lose all off the bond money and secondly the names of the owners and officers are placed on the Applicant Violator List (a black list of sorts). These people can never apply for another coal mining permit anywhere in the United States even if they work for another Coal Company. Personaly I think this is punishment and it is deserved!

CO87 you keep talking about only using 1% of the existing land.
The source for the following information comes from the Environmenttal and Public Protection Cabinet
Mining is only a temporary land use, Mountaintop mining has created several sites for new Schools, Hospitals, Shopping Centers, Parks, Golf Courses, Housing, Airports, Industry, agriculture and timber in Kentucky
Here's a few of the Post-Mining land use and the County
1) Big Sandy Region Airport - Martin
2) Hatcher Field Airport - Pike
3) Carroll Field Airport - Breathitt
4) Ford Airport - Perry
5) Ohio County Airport - Ohio
6) Federal Correctional Institute - Clay, Martin
7) East Kentucky Correctional Complex - Morgan
8) Medium Security Prison - Muhlenberg, Knott
9) Otter Creek Correctional Center - Floyd
10) Juvenile Boot Camp - Breathitt
11) Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center - Muhlenberg
12) Army National Guard Training Center - Muhlenberg
13) U.S. Postal Service - Laurel
14) County Park - Ohio
15) Madisonville South By-Pass - Hopkins
16) Solid Waste Landfills - Daviess, Greenup, Ohio, Hopkins, Perry and Lee
17) Hazard Armory - Perry
18) Jail and State Police Barracks - Perry
19) Veterans Nursing Home - Perry
and the list goes on with another 75 Industrial or Commercial operations, and also includes 16 Farms or Agricultural Projects. Fish and wildlife projects include
20) Duck Refuge Areas - Ohio, Perry, Breathitt, Knott, Martin, Muhlenberg
21) Catfish Farming - McLean
22) Wildlife Management Area - Muhlenberg, Ohio, Perry
23) Wetland Development - Eastern Kentucky

CO87 I have a question for you, it's apparent that you've never worked in the Mining Industry, because the only information you can come up with is what the Environmentalist feed you, but have you ever visited a Active Surface or Undergound Mine Site?

In most of your post you keep saying that you are informed (post #19) and if you want to know about a topic you research it (post #12). When you research topic shouldn't you research all aspects of the topic? You keep telling me to look at Reece's web site and Appvoices and I have. I also know Reece is Anti-Coal and will never make a positive comment about Coal, this may suprise you a little but I often visit OHVEC's web site usually once or twice a week just to see what their up to.
I think you owe it to yourself to look at both sides of this topic and then form your own opinion.

CO87 did you know that only 7% of Eastern Kentucky is suitable for Surface Mining?

yes I have visited many mine sites. But what does that have to do with anything, you can only see what the company will allow you to see. Lving in this area it is impossible not to see many old strip mines, and most of those are poorly reclamied, non native grass is sturgling to survive. Even the best reclamation efforts wont do much, it will take hundreds to thousands of years to regrow the natural forest, and the streams that are buried will never return to the past state.

Ok you mentioned 23 uses for old strip mines, Wow, out of the thousands of surface mines only 23 things are worth mentioning.10 of those sites were for airports and jails, most of those airports cant do commercial flights, so what impact does that make. The jail you mentioned in knott county doesn't exist, we share a jail with perry county.The reason most of the sites aren't used is becuase they aren't suitable to use. I do visit other sites other than the environmental sites you are criticizing me over, but no matter what side you visit they are both going to be baised, the best thing to do is to take info from both sites and come to the best conclusion. My opinion, which a lot of other people share, is that surface mining is bad for this region. Coal has been king in this region for over 100 years, and it hasn't helped us yet, what makes you think it is going to be our savior now. You need to stop thinking about yourself, and what works right now. What are we leaving the future generations? Once coal is gone, most of the companies here will follow suit and head out. What happens then?

I have never worked in the coal mines, and never will. Thats one of the big reasons I am attending college at the moment, I want a better life for myself, I dont want to be left with no option but to work in the mines.

I have heard that statistic that only 7% of eastern ky is suitable for surface mining. But that number is a little off. The projected amount of land to be affected in the next decade is one million acres for appalachia. I think that is a little more than the 6% total percent of the region that mining companies plan to affect.

We arent going to agree, so why don't we just stop arguing, it's pointless. a lot of people are starting to see that negative affects of mining, and it will be stopped. I just hope we can do it in time to save this region. These mountains define us, there our culture, our history, and our home, what will happen when they are gone. Thats the real concern here.