Family knows debt paid to coal mining

To the editor:

The Zirkle family has a long history of coal mining in West Virginia. Dale’s father worked in the coal mine for 20 years and his uncle also worked for years in the coal mines. They both died from black lung from inhaling coal dust.

My father worked in a coal mine in Kentucky as a young man and died of emphysema.

We have a sister-in-law who has black lung from inhaling coal dust after years of working at a loading/unloading facility.

A recent study in West Virginia found that the cost associated with premature death due to coal mining was five times greater than all measurable economic benefits from mining (groundtruthtrekking.org).

Exposure to coal dust can occur through inhalation, ingestion and eye contact.

Dale was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1996. Studies have shown a direct link with coal dust and lymphomas. One of the causes of lung cancer is exposure to coal dust. Miners exposed to coal dust can develop pneumoconiosis, or black lung (lungcancerfact.com/lung-cancer-causes/coal-dust).

The inhalation and accumulation of coal dust can cause emphysema, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (see health.yahoo.com/respiratory-overview/black-lung-disease).

People who may be more susceptible to the health effects of fine and coarse particles are infants, children, adolescents, elderly, people with respiratory conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, heart disease and diabetes (health.nsw.gov.au/topics).

Dr. Tuan Au in March 2009 noticed a large number of children with respiratory illnesses and that local schools were reporting children needing puffer medications and decided to conduct a study to see if there was a link with the coal mine dust (smh.com.au/nsw).

Usibelli currently does not have an air quality permit and the site where UCM proposes to intersect the Glenn Highway for the coal mine access road is less than 1,000 feet from the Ya Ne Dah School.

Can we really sit back and ignore the medical studies and scientific data and pretend this doesn’t exist?

The prevailing winds will blow coal mine dust over the entire Valley, the truck loads from the Glenn, to the Parks, to KGB will leave more dust in the air. The 100 to 200 trucks a day on our roads will require a lot of road maintenance at tax payers expense.

Whether you agree with us or not, there are no number of jobs or any amount of money that is worth one person’s life.

Bonnie Zirkle

Palmer