Alternate Reality Check
on Coal Mining

Scott Ritcher, March 2008

This is in response to the letter published in Sunday's paper titled "Reality Check on Coal Mining."

The truth is:

-that no industry gets away with its employees dying so frequently and in such great numbers as coal mining. More than 100 Kentucky miners died on the job in the past 15 years.

-that no industry is more willing to sacrifice its workforce and their families for profit by denying them the basic care and safety that is mandated by common sense, common decency, and common ethics.

-that there is a finite amount of coal in the ground in Kentucky, and when it's gone so, too, will these employers be.

-that if energy companies want to have access to coal, there are only a limited number of places to get it and Kentucky is one of them.

-that the coal severance tax could be doubled or quadrupled and still be a steal for these companies. The 4.5% tax could easily be upped to a more reasonable 15%. That increase would provide the state with an extra half billion dollars a year and yet these corporations could still be enjoying record profits.

-that there is no such thing as "clean coal technology." With all the cleaner energy options becoming available, it's only a matter of time before the public will no longer tolerate the filth and natural destruction that accompany the gathering and burning of coal.

-that our state legislature gave the world's largest coal company, Peabody Energy, the equivalent of $70 per Kentuckian as an incentive to further rape and pollute our state in a period when the company was posting record profits.

-that the $300 million "incentive" given to Peabody is about one and a half times the total coal severance taxes collected by the state from all the coal taken from Kentucky by every company for an entire year.

-that the handouts, destruction, and pollution all come out of our pockets and not only cost us in taxpayer dollars but in the quality of the commonwealth that is left behind when the coal is gone.

-that there is so much money involved here that coal mining communities should be the most beautiful towns in the state and enjoy the best schools and best health care available.

-that we have the coal, these companies want the coal, and we are only screwing ourselves if we don't take full advantage of that opportunity to collect billions of dollars from it to improve the quality of life in Kentucky, especially the lives of the hardworking people who make it possible by doing the backbreaking work that coal mining requires.

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