[Old School]

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.

I only mentioned 23 because I didn't have time to type them all, apparently you missed # 19 (and the list goes on with another 75 Industrial or Commerical Operations and also includes 16 Farms or Agricultural Projects). WOW!!!

What difference does it make what the property is used for the fact is the property is being used. Yes there are 5 Airports on the list, but without surface mining creating these sites these wouldn't exist. The Big Sandy Regional Airport has a 5,000 foot runway it's still a little short for a commerical flight (Commerical flights need approx. 7,000' feet). Eastern Kentucky's topography makes it almost impossible to find a site suitable to build a 7,000' runway.

The Jail that I mentioned in Knott County is in the planning stage as was onother on the list.

Man do you realize that you just slapped over 30,000 coal miners in the face by calling them dishonest and lazy, when you said (let me qoute you "Today's coal industry isn't the same as it used to be it's not made up of unions and honest hard workers" Posted by Coach_Owens87 post # 25) Every mine or section that I've worked on has had several Christians that included Preachers, Ministers, Deacons, Sunday School Teachers that attend Church every time the doors are opened. To call these people dishonest and say they are not hard workers that their lazy just shows your IGNORANCE about everything!!!
How in the world can you call some one lazy when you have no clue of the work they do?