My Journey into Coal Country

Caring for the Widow and the Orphan

This past April I was privileged to be one of the plenary speakers at the Stone- Campbell Journal annual academic gathering. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the “Stone-Campbellites” are the descendants of a revivalist movement that began on the American frontier in the early 19th century, aimed to unify Christians and restore the church to its first-century form, based on New Testament teachings, rather than later traditions or creeds. Their current denominations Churches of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. As a result of their revivalist history, this group’s academic footprint is also a ministry footprint.

My host asked me to present on environmental theology: the first presentation an overview; the second a local issue. As we were in Northeast Tennessee, I chose Mountain Top Removal, Valley Fill (MTR-VF) Coal Mining for the second plenary. For those who know my work in Stewards of Eden: What Scripture Says about the Environment and Why It Matters, you know that I locate this issue under the chapter on the care for the widow and the orphan—helping the Church to see that environmental degradation hits the marginalized first and hardest. And if you’ve read that chapter, you also know that the impact of MTR-VF on both the environment and the poor is bad, really bad.

So I gave my first presentation and it was warmly received. Lot’s of enthusiasm. Wonderful! But then I gave the second presentation. And as is often the case when it comes to “local issues” … well, sometimes the folk who asked for such a discussion wind up wishing they hadn’t. Because environmental stewardship in your own backyard is far more challenging to engage than in someone else’s backyard.

Let’s get some background. What is MTR-VF? A relatively new form of coal mining, MTR-VF requires the targeted site to be clear cut and then leveled by the use of millions of pounds of explosives. The goal is to reach the coal seams buried deep within the mountain without the expense of manpower and excavating. The demolition can extend as far as one thousand feet below the surface. Valley fill (VF) emanates from the need to dump the “overburden” created by this method of coal extraction. In other words, what was once a thriving mountain ecosystem— trees, underbrush, topsoil, and stone—is dumped into adjoining valleys, suffocating thousands of miles of habitat including healthy streams and springs.

A mountain top removal site in Appalachia

As with most coal mining in our country, the regions targeted for exploitation are inhabited by the poorest of the poor: West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, northeastern Tennessee, western Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania. The geographic region is known as Appalachia (pronounced “Appa-LATCH-uh”—I bought the t-shirt), and if you don’t have the accent, you really can’t say it correctly!

The impact of the constant explosions, flying debris, the lunar landscapes and poisoned ground water left behind, and the toxic particles inhaled by every man, woman, and child living within range of these “mines” can be quantified in the medical records, cyclical poverty, drug addiction, and life expectancy of this forgotten community. Incalculable, inhumane, and invisible. Thus, whereas coal mining in the United States has a long and troubled history, MTR-VF has brought the abuse of the land, the miner, and his community to an entirely new level.

So there I was, calling on this group to hear and see the issue at hand and ask the question, “What should citizens of the Kingdom of God, who are also citizens of the United States of America, be doing about ‘defending the orphan’ and ‘pleading for the widow’ in this long neglected corner of our country (Isa 1:17)?” But, as these things always are, the conversation is complicated.

You see, historically, coal has provided the good folk of Appalachia their most significant source of employment and infrastructure. To quote Rev. Brad Davis, who has a five point charge in McDowell County (the poorest county in America), the citizenry is “indoctrinated from birth that coal is all we are and all we’ll ever be. If coal goes away, we go away.” But even a cursory review of the region makes it expressly clear that the coal industry has not provided for these people, it has exploited them.

Predatory extraction of the region’s resources has left the land decimated, groundwater poisoned, towns surrounded by toxic (unlined and un-fenced) sludge ponds, and local economies and school systems in near-collapse. As Pastor Daniel Bradley of Alexander UMC explains, in his town of Bishop there is no work, no medical care, no grocery stores … no hope. What there is in Bishop is rampant opioid addiction, ubiquitous medical issues, and the remains of what used to be homes and stores and towns standing rotting in the sun.

The only barrier that stands between human and animal visitors & a toxic coal waste slurry impoundment containing arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury

Perhaps most troubling to the environmentalist in me is that the devastation to these Mountain Top Removal sites and their adjacent waterways is irrecoverable. Scores of experts have been shouting about this for decades. But they have been silenced by industry and indifference. One particularly courageous study conducted by an independent research team of university biologists and geologists in 2010 states: “Current mitigation strategies are meant to compensate for lost stream habitat and functions but do not; water-quality degradation caused by mining activities is neither prevented nor corrected during reclamation or mitigation.” Rather MTR-VF coal mining causes “permanent loss of ecosystems that play critical roles in ecological processes.” The experts agree that the impact on land and waterways is “pervasive and irreversible” (M. A. Palmer et al., “Mountaintop Mining Consequences,” Science 327, no. 5962 [2010]: 148-49, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/327/5962/148). What this means in layman’s terms is that the 500+ mountains of this ancient range that have already been “removed”— their adjacent waterways, and their communities—can never be healed.

Perhaps more troubling is that our current administration has recently signed an executive order to “turbocharge” the coal industry—lifting regulatory barriers to coal extraction, and suspending the planned closures of many coal-fired power plants in our country. That means that rather than the hardwon reductions in coal use that have landed our country at a current 15% dependence on coal as a source of electricity, we are targeting a rise back to the 53% of the 1960’s. Consider as well the companies that withdrew from Appalachia in bankruptcy in recent decades rather than dealing with the environmental impact of their profits on the region. It appears that they are moving back into Appalachia under new names. This ugly story is not over.

A monument standing in Bishop W. VA celebrating the men who “gave their lives to the coal industry” in mines 33, 34, 35

So there I was, standing in front of several hundred academics, having concluded my presentation with a call for Christian action, and the room had settled into the kind of silence no speaker wants to hear. The microphones were open for Q & A, and I stood there on the platform awaiting the storm. And then I saw him. Coming down out of the bleachers. A younger man for this crowd; he wore a suit jacket. Based on the mood of the room and his measured approach, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for combat. He spoke to the audience first, introducing himself as Ethan Johnson, a UMC pastor. I didn’t know his name, but I could tell my audience did. Then he named his church, Main Street UMC, in Tazewell, VA. Once again, I did not recognize the names, but I could tell that my audience did. You see, Main Street UMC in Tazewell used to be the crown jewel of Tazewell County … the very bowels of coal country. And Ethan? He has his PhD in New Testament from St. Andrews and therefore, credibility.

Knowing none of this, I saw the man at the microphone turn to the audience first. And to my very great surprise, he said: “I need you to know that everything she just said is true.” And then he turned to me and said, “And we need your help.” Never have I seen a room flip faster.

So as soon as we were done with the Q & A, I made a beeline for the Rev. Dr. Ethan Johnson. I found out he’d been raised in coal country in a pastor’s home, that he loved this region and its broken story, and that he was deeply discouraged. I learned that this “wicked problem” of exploitation, poverty, distrust, addiction and environmental degredation had knocked the wind out of his vanishing congregation. As a leader he was struggling to imagine a path forward toward the sort of changes necessary to the flourishing of his people. And so we made a date. I was headed to Winchester, VA later that year for a speaking engagement, and I promised to come a few days early, land a little further west and south, and meet his people, see his town, and better understand how what I knew to be a devastating environmental issue causing untold suffering for the population of Appalachia, was also crushing the widow and the orphan in his congregation.

This next series of substacks will tell the story of my encounters with Ethan, his colleagues Rev. Brad Davis in McDowell Country and Rev. Daniel Bradley in Bishop. Krea Merritt of Tazewell and Ed Evans (America’s Top Science Teacher, 2008 and a local politician) and our shared dream to move the dial … toward redemption.

The Rev. Dr. Ethan Johnson standing in front of one of the stunning stained glass windows of Main Street United Methodist Church, Tazewell, VA.

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I’m grateful to say that my latest book (and first children’s book) is situated in the majestic countryside of Appalachia. A region of our country that is so staggeringly beautiful I had to share it with readers. In fact, the illustration of Abigail’s waterfall comes straight from western North Carolina! This book is an invitation for families to discuss what the Bible says about caring for this beautiful world of ours. Explore the wonders of creation with Abigail and learn to care for God's good earth! Releasing August 19; it is available for pre-order today!

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Some resources for you:

Sandra Richter, Stewards of Eden: What Scripture has to say about the Environment and Why it Matters (Downers Grove, IL: IVPAcademic, 2020)

“What Is Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining?,” iLoveMountains.org, http://ilovemountains.org/resources

Erik Reece, “Mountaintop-Removal Mining Is Devastating Appalachia, but Residents Are Fighting Back,” Grist, February 17, 2006, www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/02/16/reece.htm.

M. A. Palmer et al., “Mountaintop Mining Consequences,” Science 327, no. 5962 (2010): 148-49, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/327/5962/148.

James Bruggers, “Mountaintop Mining Is Destroying More Land for Less Coal, Study Finds,” InsideClimate News, July 26, 2018, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072018/appalachia-mountaintop-removal-coal-strip-mining-satellite-maps-environmental-impacts-data.

Howard Berkes et al., “An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It,” All Things Considered, December 18, 2018, www.npr.org/2018/12/18/675253856/an-epidemic-is-killing-thousands-of-coal-miners-regulators-could-have-stopped-it.

Clifford Kraus, “Shareholders Approve Massey Energy Sale to Alpha,” New York Times, June 11, 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/business/02coal.html.

Carol Morello, “Child’s Death by Mine Boulder Sets Off Avalanche of Rage,” Chicago Tribune, January 5, 2005, www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-01-09-0501090359-story.html

Tim Thornton, “Family of Boy Killed by Boulder Sues,” Roanoke Times Daily Press, July 6, 2006, www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20060706-2006-07-06-0607060311-story.html.

Visit the Christians for the Mountains website: www.christiansforthemountains.org/.

See a farewell tribute to Larry Gibson and his extraordinary resistance at “Farewell to Larry Gibson, an Appalachian Hero,” iLoveMountains.org, September 12, 2012, http://ilovemountains.org/news/3185.