Page 32 - Aruba Today

A32
FEATUREWednesday 2 December
Appalachia grasps for hope as coal jobs fade away
JONATHAN FAHEY
AP Energy Writer
WELCH, W.Va. (AP) — The
seams of coal in some of
Eddie Asbury’s mines in
McDowell County are so
thin workers can barely
squeeze down them. They
enter on carts nearly flat
on their backs, the roof of
the mine coursing by just a
few inches in front of their
faces. They don’t stand up
all day.
To keep his business op-
erating with such a paltry
amount of coal, Asbury has
to do everything himself.
He has no use for the shiny,
multimillion-dollar mining
machines on display this
fall at the biannual coal
show nearby. His equip-
ment is secondhand stuff
that he repairs and refur-
bishes. The coal he and his
workers scrape out of the
mountain is washed and
prepared for sale in a plant
Asbury and a colleague
built themselves.
“It’s how we survive,” says
Asbury, 66, a miner since
1971.
Even coal is barely surviv-
ing in coal country — and
coal is about the only thing
Central Appalachia has.
West Virginia is the only
state in the country where
more than half of adults
are not working, accord-
ing to the Census Bureau.
It is tied with Kentucky for
the highest percentage of
residents collecting disabil- blasting coal out of moun-
ity payments from Social
Security, according to the
Kaiser Family Foundation.
And the death rate among
working-age adults is high-
est in the nation, 55 per-
cent higher the national
average, according to the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Now, the one main source
for decent-paying work,
the brutal life of coal,
seems to be drying up
for good. The thick, easy,
cheap coal is gone, global
competition is fierce, and
clean air and water regu-
lations are increasing costs
and cutting into demand.
“There’s a reluctant real-
ization that this is differ-
ent,” says Keith Burdette,
West Virginia’s commerce
secretary and head of the
state’s economic develop-
ment office, of the latest possibilities because coal rivals at a time when the Dennison plans to expand
may not be here,” says world is trying to turn away early next year to start simi-
coal bust. Dr. Donovan “Dino” Beck- from coal. Coal is by far the larbusinesses focused on
ett, CEO of the Williamson biggest source of carbon agriculture, tourism and
Central Appalachia’s Health and Wellness Cen- dioxide and airborne pol- retail.
ter. lutants among fuels used “We’re trying to change
struggle is familiar to many Beckett, 46, started a free to make electricity. mindsets in coal country,
clinic under a federal pro- As jobs disappeared from from ‘the world is out to get
rural regions across the U.S., gram to encourage treat- coal country people fled, me’ to ‘the world is full of
ment of underserved pop- leaving behind aban- opportunity,’” he says. “A
where middle-class jobs ulations to go along with his doned buildings and emp- huge focus of the training
more traditional doctor’s ty lots. we do is around entrepre-
are disappearing or gone office, a Diabetes Coali- Brandon Dennison devised neurship and how to start
tion, and a project called a business plan in gradu- abusiness.”
and young people have
no other choice than to
leave to find opportunity.
But the problems are ampli-
fied in coal country, where
these difficult economic
and social conditions have
The town of Welch, W.Va., in McDowell County is seen on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. About the only flat land to build anything among
the jumble of mountains in Southern West Virginia is in the hollows traced by small rivers, and that land sits in dangerous flood
plains. This unavoidable geography has hampered efforts to diversify the economy, despite decades of effort.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
gripped the region for de- Sustainable Williamson that ate school that uses some Globally, coal will not go
cades and where there is helped set up a farmer’s of these disadvantages to completely away anytime
hardly any flat land to build market to provide access create jobs. soon — it’s the cheapest
anything. to healthier food. His creation, Coalfield De- way to bring electricity to
Big federal and state pro- This summer, Sustainable velopment Corp., hires the 1.3 billion people who
grams and initiatives, some Williamson opened a graduates of high school lack access to it, and even
dating from the Lyndon space for budding entre- vocational programs to developed nations will still
Johnson administration, preneurs in a converted old restore, repurpose or tear need to burn it as they
have failed to help the re- furniture store called The down old buildings, use old transition to cleaner fuels.
gion diversify its economy Hub, where people with building materials to make But the thin seams left in
much beyond digging or ideas for businesses can furniture, or build new Central Appalachia are
get support and advice. homes on reclaimed coal- too expensive to compete
tains. If anything is going to “We wanted to start a clin- field land. with cheaper coal be-
help the people of Appala- ic, but we wanted to be Employees also are also re- ing mined in places like Il-
chia, poverty experts and an economic driver for the quired to take six hours of linois, Wyoming, Australia
residents of West Virginia area, too,” Beckett says. community college cours- and Indonesia. The industry
now say, it’s themselves: Coal employment in Cen- es a week and three hours will persist, driven by small,
local entrepreneurs who tral Appalachia has been of life skills classes that help determined operators like
know their communities declining for decades, a them with things like money Asbury who are after high
and customers well, and result of mechanization in management and healthy quality coal used to make
are committed to them. the 1960s, the collapse of eating. steel, but as a niche no lon-
“We need to have some the U.S. steel industry in the The program is getting ger able to support a re-
urgency and look at other 1980s, and now cheaper such a good response that gion’s economy.q