Voice of experience about coal

To the editor:

My name is Leonard Nugen. I am 87 years old and I am writing regarding the coal mine in Sutton.

I was born and raised in West Virginia where there were many coal mines. We had soft coal and hard, and we mined it. When I was a boy of 11 or 12 years of age I carried a petition in our neighborhood of Laurel Creek to stop the coal companies from dumping mine water in Laurel Creek.

Everyone in Laurel Creek who we asked to sign the petition was happy to, hoping to save the fish in Laurel Creek. Mostly there were bluegills, but also all the fish that were native to the creek.

The petition was sent to the state government of West Virginia in Charleston and we were assured the matter would be looked into. Coal companies and government in Charleston advised us that the mine water would not harm the fish in the creek.

However, it slowly but surely killed all the native fish in the creek.

Now they call Laurel Creek a trout stream and the state stocks it every year. The trout’s eggs will not hatch in Laurel Creek because of all the sediment from coal.

Therefore, I do not know what they are going to do with the water they wash the coal with in Sutton. It will go down the river and into the inlet. I think it will affect the hatching of salmon or other fish in the river.

This is just a small portion of what happens. Wells go dry. The mine’s water went into the mines below and the coal companies pumped it out of the ground and pumped it into the creeks. They stripped the mountaintops and left an awful-looking mess. The dust that is flying around in the air is harsh and smelly, and you do not have to work in the mines to get black lung. Now West Virginia is left to deal with this mess.

I know this is true. I lived there and I was back there two years ago and nothing has changed.

I do not support a coal mine in Sutton!

Leonard Nugen

Wasilla