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Related: About this forumAt Least 23 People Dead In West Virginia Flooding - Pictures Video
I honestly don't know which is sadder: The fact that two dozen people have died, or the 99.9% probability that, come November, West Virginia will vote for a goddamned idiot who will insist these floods have nothing to do with climate change.
zebonaut
(3,688 posts)appalachiablue
(41,056 posts)and a tornado in one county. Terrible times for West Virginia.
London just had rainfall in one day equivalent to a month.
niyad
(112,435 posts)appalachiablue
(41,056 posts)"West Virginia is a very rich state", JFK said when campaigning there in Spring, 1960 for the Democratic presidential primary nomination which the Mountain State gave him.
- Winning West VirginiaJFK's Primary Campaign 1960 -
"I would not be where I now am, I would not have some of the responsibilities which I now bear, if it had not been for the people of West Virginia." President John F. Kennedy, June 20, 1963.
More, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Exhibits/Past-Exhibits/Winning-West-Virginia.aspx
The abundant natural resources of central Appalachia have been extracted and plundered with nominal benefit to coal workers and residents for more than a century although the industry has brought great wealth to corporations, many out of state, and their allies including politicians while causing major pollution and damage to the land, people and wildlife.
The practice of mountaintop removal for extreme coal extraction has deformed and altered the terrain and communities enabling even more environmental destruction from events like this recent heavy rainfall flooding, and increasing weather disturbances from climate change. The continued tragedy of reckless and thoughtless exploitation of fossil fuel resources and life for profit at all costs has long been neglected and needs to end.
Critical assistance and urgent efforts are clearly needed to address decades of deteriorating conditions in coal mining areas of West Virginia and Central Appalachia, made even more evident by the current loss of life, property and state of emergency in 45 counties in West Virginia. Actions for remediation in distressed American communities, and calls for economic, social and environmental justice will only happen when major changes begin with our political, economic and social systems and that time appears to be coming.
________
"Mother Jones once said, "There is no peace in West Virginia, because there is no justice (in West Virginia)."
This is as true today as when she said it. Despite living among the richest coal reserves and one of the most ecologically biodiverse regions in the world, the people in Central Appalachia, including those near my home in the southern West Virginia coalfields, are among the poorest people in the United States. Poverty rates here are at least twice that of the rest of the country. The people are mainly a rural, white population whose families have lived in Appalachia for generations, dating back to before the exploitation of the coal seams.
People often ask, how could this happen? How could one of the most minerally rich places be populated by some of the poorest people? It happens because the economy here has revolved around the concentrated ownership of one resourcecoalfor more than a hundred years." Continued...~ "Mountaintop Removal in Central Appalachia" by Shirley Stewart Burns, Southern Spaces Journal, Sept. 30, 2009.
http://southernspaces.org/2009/mountaintop-removal-central-appalachia
- Destruction from mountaintop coal removal at Kayford Mountain, Kanawha County, West Virginia, 2006.
- Severe flooding damage in Wyoming County, West Virginia, 2004.
"The Last Mountain" film, (2010). In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle with severe consequences that affect every American, regardless of their social status, economic background or where they live. It is a battle that has taken many lives and continues to do so the longer it is waged. It is a battle over protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal.
The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of Americas struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns. Nowhere is that concern greater than in Coal River Valley, West Virginia, where a small but passionate group of ordinary citizens are trying to stop Big Coal corporations, like Massey Energy, from continuing the devastating practice of Mountain Top Removal.
- Maria Gunnoe, awarded community activist and environmental spokesperson from Boone County, WV.
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- Joe Lovett, founder and exec. director, the Appalachian Center for the Economy and Environment, fights for citizens and communities across West Virginia that have been damaged and polluted by coal companies.
The Last Mountain, 2010 movie.
http://thelastmountainmovie.com/film/
Stuart G
(38,365 posts)appalachiablue
(41,056 posts)had won the recent primary candidacy for governor of WV, the state would have a leader who realizes climate change and more. Unfortunately he was surpassed by Dem. Jim Justice who will face the GOP's unopposed Bill Cole.
Party control in West Virginia: The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of West Virginia from 1992-2013. SEE LINK.Governor of West Virginia Partisanship.PNG
Throughout the state's history, West Virginia voters tend to elect Republicans to the White House and Democrats to the U.S. Senate and statewide office.[1]
But in 2014, Republicans gained control of West Virginia's House of Delegates and state Senate for the first time since the 1930s.
The governor's seat in West Virginia alternated between Republicans and Democrats from 1984 until 2000. The partisan shift in the state legislature signals a potential change in the 15-year tradition of the Democratic governors seat.[13]
If a Republican wins the governors seat in 2016, West Virginia will join the expanding list of Republican state government trifectas around the country. https://ballotpedia.org/West_Virginia_gubernatorial_election,_2016