Opposing coal is right

To the editor:

Last May at the Palmer Depot there was a presentation on the community and health impacts of coal development. A couple of speakers from Appalachia and one from Chickaloon came to share their stories. Unfortunately, the question-and-answer period was immediately hijacked by an angry, vocal and disrespectful minority of pro-coal Usibelli supporters. The folks from Appalachia were unfazed. This was nothing new to them. In fact, it was one of the things they came to warn us about.

I’m reminded of all of this by Thursday’s article, “Neighbors: No Coal,” and the online commentary that it generated. As a resident of Buffalo Mine Road and a neighbor to folks on both side of this issue, I do not appreciate the tactic of pitting neighbor against neighbor. It is my experience that the people who live very close to this project are overwhelmingly opposed to it.

That opposition exists throughout the coal field, from here to Chickaloon and beyond. It is supported by volumes of research and experience demonstrating the negative health, community and environmental impacts of coal mining.

Coal is a dirty, mean and dangerous business. If you live in this Valley and care about anything other than short-term economics, opposing coal development is the sensible thing to do.

Kirby Spangler

Palmer