Rand Paul shares his views on coal and mountaintop removal.
When Dr. Rand Paul, Kentucky's Republican nominee for the United States Senate, sat down last fall with a TV interviewer to discuss his political views, he said about mountaintop removal, "I don’t think anybody’s going to be missing a hill or two, here and there.”
After recently gaining media attention as the first candidate endorsed by the Tea Party to win a nomination for a national seat, Paul quickly came under fire for comments he made about civil rights.
Paul's controversial views on energy and coal, however, have received much less attention.
During an October 2009 interview, Paul was asked, "What about mountaintop removal?" He responded:
"I think who ever owns the property can do with the property as they wish, and if the coal company buys it from a private property owner, and they want to do it, fine.
The other thing I think is, I think coal gets a bad a name because I think a lot of the land apparently is actually quite desirable once it's been flattened out. As I came over here from Harlan, you got quite a few hills, I don't think anybody's going to be missing a hill or two here and there. And some people like having the flat land. Some of it apparently has become quite valuable when it's become flattened. And I think they do a good job at reclaiming the land, and you know adding back in top soil, bringing in elk. So I think they are doing a good job at it.
But the bottom line is, it's not just me pandering to coal, it's me believing in private property. If they bought the property, they own the property, they can do with that property, as long as they don't pollute someone else's property. And I don't think they want to.
If they dump something in the river that goes to the next property, your local judges here will stop them. But I don't think they are doing that. I think what they are doing is what they can do with property they own, and it doesn't appear to me to be something the federal government should be getting involved with."
Recent research by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Appalachian Voices found that of the 500 mountains destroyed by mountaintop removal across Appalachia, 58% are in Kentucky, the state Paul hopes to represent in the U.S. Senate. The study found that more than 574,000 acres of hardwood forests have been destroyed in the state, and one in every 10 acres in the region has been mined.
Despite claims by Paul and coal industry officials that leveled areas are reclaimed into economically viable land, the study found this is rarely the case. Out of the 500 mountains flattened in Appalachia, only 6.3% showed any sign of visible economic development.
Coal River Mountain is an ancient Appalachian cradle of rolling ridges and nestled hollows, which provide refuge to a variety of delicate wildlife species and a home to a uniquely American mountain culture. But just beneath the surface lays something that calls into question the mountain’s very survival: $4.3 billion worth of coal. Massey Energy holds permits to clear-cut 6,450 acres of hardwood forest on the mountain and to detonate thousands of tons of explosives. The blasts will topple debris into nine miles of streams below, destroying not just the mountain, but also the land and the way of life of those who live there. The people of Raleigh County, West Virginia are the ones who will suffer from the loss of their mountain to strip mining.
The Coal War is the story of a symbol and a struggle: one mountain destined to be destroyed by the coal industry and a courageous effort to bring renewable energy to the heartland of America.
A Thousand Little Cuts
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Coal River Mountain is an ancient Appalachian cradle of rolling ridges and nestled hollows, which provide refuge to a variety of delicate wildlife species and a home to a uniquely American mountain culture. But just beneath the surface lays something that calls into question the mountain’s very survival: $4.3 billion worth of coal. Massey Energy holds permits to clear-cut 6,450 acres of hardwood forest on the mountain and to detonate thousands of tons of explosives. The blasts will topple debris into nine miles of streams below, destroying not just the mountain, but also the land and the way of life of those who live there. The people of Raleigh County, West Virginia are the ones who will suffer from the loss of their mountain to strip mining.
The Coal War is the story of a symbol and a struggle: one mountain destined to be destroyed by the coal industry and a courageous effort to bring renewable energy to the heartland of America.
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