On September 13, 2000, David Case wrote an article in Mother Jones Magazine about West Virginia’s Mountain (Party) Mama…Denise Giardina. Ms. Giardina is an author and was sick of seeing the politicians of West Virginia selling off the soul of this beautiful land. She even tried to run for governor by forming her own political party…the Mountain Party. She was born in West Virginia, raised in a coal camp, and has written books on the failing coal industry.

David Case writes, “West Virginia often seems like America’s very own slice of Third World. A powerful clique of good-ole-boys rape the earth for natural resource wealth, while the masses contend with shabby schools and inadequate public services.” West Virginia has always been in the lowest numbers of any economic chart. Yet she is (or WAS) among the richest in natural resources. She was siphoned of these resources with very little in the way of financial or social remuneration in the past.

First it was timber. Then coal, oil and gas. Coal has seen a decided downturn in production with the pledges to reduce carbon emissions in an effort to protect the environment. Gas saw a resurgence when drilling began in the Marcellus Shale of North Central West Virginia. Look, I’m not going to get into a whole political rant here…this isn’t the place. There are so many sides to every story. There are people in this state who would not eat or clothe their families if it weren’t for the Oil and Gas Industry. I get that. And, there are people starving who cannot provide for their families because of reduced coal production. I get that, too. People have to eat

News broke in November that China came in with a 20-year, $83.7 billion investment in West Virginia’s natural gas industry, yet very few details have emerged as to what, exactly, that will look like. What kinds of pipelines, cracker plants, processing plants, compressors? What about regulation? What about protecting the residents? The environment? Long term climate effects? Will this knock the struggling coal industry completely out of the game?

Oh, the praises and political jockeying to take credit for this enormous financial coup has been a sight to see. The sight that disturbs me most is the destruction of thousands of acres of forest, some of which are a stone’s throw from my back porch. I hate to see the land of my people, the home of my heart, being raped, pillaged, and plundered to send the gas beneath our feet from West Virginia to Louisiana and then shipped to China. Yes…they’re paying for it. But, for how long? Twenty years? You know…$83.7 billion doesn’t go as far as it used to, especially when you take into account each section of pipe costs around $25,000 to place. There’s an enormously expensive infrastructure to build.

I hate what’s happening to the land. At the same time, my mechanically inclined mind is intrigued by the industrial process, I hate to admit. The other day, Mr. FixIt and I went for a drive and saw where the pipeline will be coming off the hill behind the farm, crossing the road, and heading up the far ridge. It is crazy to see the steep slopes these men and their ‘dozers are working on. There are places where bulldozers are chained together and a working ‘dozer gets lowered on a cable down the hill. Workers are literally on their backs with their feet sticking straight up as they try to clear away the trees, underbrush, boulders, and earth as they dangle from steel cables. It’s dangerous work…as dangerous as any coal mine.

Anyone with any land at all has put in mini campgrounds in their fields and pastures and even lawns in order to cash in on the economic windfall created by a lack of housing for the oil and gas workers. Restaurants, hotels, food trucks, convenience stores have all sprung up to accommodate the extra mouths to feed. Again, I ask…what happens in 20 years when it all goes away and we are left with a scarred landscape that can be seen from outer space? I know…it’s an influx of money to a struggling, poor state. Maybe people can put a little money away for the future. Maybe they can send their kids to school for better educations. Maybe West Virginia will invest that money wisely and not just line the pockets of the powers that be so our children can look forward to a better life. Maybe. In the meantime, the trucks going up and down our road have literally torn it to bits, hundreds of years of forest growth is gone, and everything is a muddy mess…all in the name of the almighty dollar. ❤️

“You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.””
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭35:33-34‬ ‭ESV‬‬