Editor:

Office of Surface Mining people can’t and won’t criticize West Virginia’s mining regulators on a major issue like mountaintop removal.

They would have to criticize their own oversight, which for years has cravenly approved West Virginia’s approach. Only a few months ago, Roger Calhoun, a top OSM official in West Virginia, said he had more important issues to attend to.

Get a third party in there to take a look. I bet Davitt McAteer’s Mining Safety and Health Administration could put together an investigation that wouldn’t pull its punches.

Richard S. diPretoro

Pittsburgh

(Richard diPretoro is a career geological consultant and former administrative assistant of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy) ¨

Dear Editor:

Re. your "Mining" editorial of November 6th: Your writer says it is the legislature that sets public policy, by enactment of laws. And you say that the governor is the "agenda setting" branch of government. The Division of Environmental Protection is the environmental law enforcement arm of the governor. The Army Corps of Engineers has a specific legal mandate to enforce laws about filling in streams. You seem critical of a lawsuit filed by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy against these two agencies. You suggest that our organization’s goal is to "end run" the laws. On the contrary, we contend that the mining companies are end running the laws, by simply ignoring them. And we contend that it is the agencies’ mandate, spelled out in law, to see that this doesn’t happen. Does the "agenda setting" duties your writer assigns to the administration include the right to determine what parts of mining and environmental laws it wants to enforce? We think not.

Frank Young, President

West Virginia Highlands Conservancy ¨

Dear Governor Underwood,

I want to take a few minutes of your time to register my horror and disgust for the current practice of mountaintop removal in West Virginia. As a conservation biologist, I feel compelled to provide statistical analyses of the negative effects of mountaintop removal on the quality of the water, soil, and air of the Mountain State. However, I will refrain from cataloging the many biological costs which mountaintop removal levels on my home state. Instead, as a native of Morgantown, I want to point out some of the cultural costs which this practice incites.

Mountaintop removal robs West Virginians of opportunities for long-term natural resource employment. How can we sustainably harvest woodlands for timber when the woods are turned into a "valley fill?" How can we attract tourists to West Virginian trout streams which are destroyed forever frommountain top removal? We cannot. Your endorsement of mountaintop removal spells economic disaster for the people of West Virginia. As a result, you cannot ethically claim to be both "pro-jobs" and "pro-mountaintop removal." Indeed, there is no middle ground on this issue. It has been mined.

Besides direct economic impacts, mountaintop removal also levels a blow to our state pride and self-identity. As Appalachian citizens, we have always affiliated ourselves with the terrain of this region. As manifest destiny-bound settlers moved westward through the Appalachians, our descendants chose to stay and to stake their claim in these mountains.

Accordingly, how can we live in the Mountain State and simultaneously condone the obliteration of the very mountains which define us and our heritage? We cannot.

What legacy will you leave as Governor? Please save our mountain heritage and halt mountaintop removal.

Thank you for your consideration.

Most sincerely,

Than Hitt,

Missoula, MT

Dear Editor:

It is Thanksgiving Day and I was just channel surfing prior to the start of the Steeler’s game. I came across a commercial by Arch Coal on CNN regarding mountaintop removal (it’s the right thing to do). Without a doubt it is a nice propaganda piece. But it made me think of how grateful I am of the efforts of the Conservancy. I also realize how much of an uphill struggle we will have against the political and economic forces of King Coal in West Virginia. Therefore, I am enclosing an additional contribution to the Highlands Conservancy, in the hope of doing what little I can to help counter balance the overwhelming influence of those who can afford to hire professional spin doctors and propaganda specialists.

Please maintain your vigilance in the fight against mountaintop removal!

Sincerely,

Justin M. Harrison December 15, 1998

Dear Mr. Saville,

My two evergreen wreaths have just been delivered and are already hanging on the main doors. They surpass my fondest expectations and I am delighted! They are full, fresh and smell wonderful. We shall certainly enjoy them. How about next year? I hope this project will prove successful enough for you to offer wreaths again in 1999.

Gratefully,

Joan Cassidy December 1998

Yes, we do hope to make the Christmas Wreaths an annual fund raiser. This year we netted over $700 from the wreath sales.

(Is this the right place to put in a kudo for Dave and his wreathes which have been a real boon to the WVHC? I hope so, because here it is! Well done, Dave! Editor)