 Larry Gibson speaks at a lecture about mountaintop removal mining on Earth Day in Plemmons Student Union. Photo by Casey Gahagan | The Appalachian Gibson delivered a lecture entitled “Mountaintop Removal Mining” as part of a fundraiser held at The Green House, a collaboration of green businesses located in downtown Boone co-sponsored by Appalachian Voices.
Gibson and Appalachian Voices are lobbying the U.S. Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act, a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban the process of dumping mining waste directly into streams, thereby ending mountaintop removal.
Gibson lives on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia where his family has lived since the late 1700s.
Coal companies began their slow destruction of Kayford Mountain in 1986, and blasting continues to this day.
“It is amazing to see new people come to my home in Kayford and walk with me to Hell’s Gate, where my land ends, and you can see the devastation mountaintop removal has caused and just start crying,” Gibson said.
Gibson lives on 50 acres of land surrounded by blasted mountains.
In his fight to end mountaintop removal, Gibson has had his life threatened on many occasions, his family shot at and his dog killed.
“The worst part is that I am fighting my own people, my own community,” Gibson said. “All I am trying to do is set an example and make sure that my children and my children’s children can live in peace and live in an place where the land, water and air aren’t deadly.”
Steve Owen is the executive director of the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy.
“I’ve known Larry for over 10 years, and I have gone to the United Nations with him,” Owen said. “I can’t believe his commitment to the cause. He told me his land is worth millions to the coal companies, but the cause he is fighting for is far more important.”
“Over 500 mountains have been leveled and 2,000 streams buried in the [Appalachian Mountains] by mountaintop removal,” Willa Mays, executive director of Appalachian Voices said. “Support for our cause is growing, and we need to end this now before it is too late.”
The process of mountaintop removal yields toxic byproducts that, when contained in nearby valleys, can create airborne toxins and leach into nearby water supplies.
Story: LAURENCE HENRIQUEZ, Intern News Reporter
Photo: CASEY GAHAGAN, Photographer |
