Faced with competition from natural gas and increasing federal regulations, the coal industry is going through tough times. Layoffs and mine closings are becoming more and more common, especially in in parts of West Virginia and Kentucky. As part of Inside Energy's series on the Future of Coal, reporter Catherine Moore went to find out what’s next for those most heavily impacted by the coal industry’s problems.
CATHERINE: At a fire hall in West Virginia, dozens of coal miners and their families are mulling around a room. State officials called this meeting to help them figure out what to do next after the coal mine they worked in closed. Dell Maynard is one of these miners. His primary emotion right now is shock.
DELL MAYNARD: I've been laid off three times in the last year. LAUGHS. I'm not kidding. And it's not because I don't try to find a job because I've found three. Oh, it's awful. I'm telling you this place is going to be a ghost town if they don't do something.
CATHERINE: For others, like Steve Sigmon, it’s anger--
STEVE SIGMON: I think I’m more angry than anything because I don’t think this has to happen. It’s hurtful. Don’t know really where to turn… it’s a big adjustment in life.
CATHERINE: All over Appalachia, people are in different stages of mourning this thing that’s put dinner on the table and shaped the culture for so long. Some are even starting to talk about a transition. About Appalachia past coal.
CATHERINE: Shane Lucas trudges through the cold mud at a small mountain farm outside of Whitesburg, KY.
LUCAS: This barn right here, it’s pretty interesting.
CATHERINE: Shane is pointing out a weathered barn on his property. It used to be a coal tipple-- a structure where the coal is loaded for transport.
SHANE: So they went up in there and tore the coal tipple down. Come back and built this barn out of it. So this barn was actually a coal tipple, back in the 40s.
CATHERINE: It’s hard to think of a better symbol of economic transition than this building we’re standing in, the ruins of one industry repurposed to house another: agriculture
SHANE: My wife wants me to tear it down, but I hate to tear it down. But it is going to fall down shortly.
CATHERINE: For almost 20 years, Shane was a surface miner, running a production drill at the vast Cumberland coal complex near his home. He loved his job. But then two years ago, his life took a dramatic turn when he was laid off by Arch Coal. One day, they just shut the doors.
SHANE: Everybody was scared to death, everybody’s saying “What are we going to do?” Because there’s nothing out here. In debt. How are they going to pay for everything? It was really a bad moment.
CATHERINE: But Shane had a back-up plan. He’d started Lucas farm—where he grows all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables . By the time he lost his job, Shane was making some real money selling at his roadside stand--not like in the mines, but just maybe...enough.
SHANE: Fooling with this, I’m never broke. I’ve always got a dollar in my pocket. I might not could pay bills but I’ve always got a dollar in my pocket
IVY BRASHEAR: The region is in a really critical moment of economic transition. For me, it's a really pregnant moment of opportunity.
CATHERINE: That’s Ivy Brashear, an eastern Kentuckian who works for Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, a non-profit that’s helping to chart a course for economic transition in the region: entrepreneurship, energy efficiency, forestry, and local foods. It’s a tough transition.
IVY: But there really is no other option for us if we are to survive as a region and as a people than to search for alternatives and to do something else.
CATHERINE: For former miners like Shane, there is a lot to work out. He’s not banking on the coal mine re-opening. He’s got a plan. Over the next five years, he’ll be turning more ground under, planting a big berry patch, and looking to source produce year round.
SHANE: That’s what I’m after. I’d love for it to work out that way.
Like many people in Appalachia, Shane is just trying to find his footing.
For Inside Energy, I’m Catherine Moore.
That story was supported by High Plains News. It’s part of a series ‘The Future of Coal’. -- a collaboration between The Allegheny Front, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and Inside Energy.
