Day 5 Morning

Day 5 morning was very eye-opening. I have been seeing so much of the negatives about surface mining (contour and mountain top removal or strip mining). We visited Coal-Mac, Inc. which is owned by Arch Coal. The company employs 295 people and has $225 million in capital investment. 3.5 million tons of coal are produced annually. The company has 33 million recoverable tons, which is enough work for 10-15 more years. 11,800 acres are permitted and $23 million has been posted for reclamation. The company has a total payroll of $23 million. Those are just some numbers to familiarize with the company. More importantly for those living in West Virginia, Coal-Mac, Inc. has won numerous awards for their work in safety and reclamation. The surface mine has also reached 3 million man hours without lost time from injury. When driving through the mining areas, we immediately saw the signs stressing safety and then the beauty! The reclaimed areas were amazing. They looked nothing like the devastation people see on television and come to think about in association with surface mining. The areas did not look like they had been touched after about 5 or 6 years - there were various trees, other plants, animals, and insects. In fact, the insects were so thick when we got out of the van that I got a mosquito bite within about 2 minutes and tons of little brown insects were crawling all over my body. I think the bugs weren't used to a lot of humans! Oh, and the grasshoppers were everywhere! I also learned that valley fill does not mean they fill in the valley. It is put on the sides of the mountains to build up the mountains, many times. Another neat opportunity is when the top of the mountain is left flat and cattle farms can be built on it. That has already been done once, and we saw it from a distance. It seemed like everything had been thorougly thought through and the EPA and DEP keeps close watch over all plans. The thing I always think about was addressed - what happens to all the slurry (the dirty water after cleaning coal)? Our guide explained the slurry is moved to high ground, the water evaporates, the slurry becomes hard and compacted, and is eventually covered with at least 3 feet of dirt to reclaim the land. We did not have the opportunity to take pictures, but I really learned so many impressive things about surface mining. It CAN be done in a great way that is helpful for all parties involved. There is so much hope for the future of our land.

Day 4 Night

During the evening we went to Matewan and saw the Matewan Museum and then the street where the Matewan Massacre occured. It was surprising on the way that there was such a variety of homes. There were plenty of trailers, but there were so many gigantic, gorgeous homes along the road, too. Those people were all tied to coal. What a difference in lives. . . It is a long night tonight because we will still see the coal house before heading to Chapmanville for bed.

Day 4 Afternoon

After a Heavenly Ham picnic lunch, we headed to SHM which builds and repairs highwall miners. Highwall miners mine 20,000 - 200,000 tons in a month. The machine costs $8 million. An estimated $15 million is needed in total machinery. 200-300 dollars comes from each ton. The machine runs 1000 feet underground and can cut from 28 inches to 15 feet high. If the seam is 30 inches, you might do one or two 1000 foot holes in a day. A wonderful thing about highwall mining is that there are no people underground so there is much less danger than underground mining. Maintenance is constantly being done while the miner is running. The miner might run for 20 years. Underground continuous miners will have about 9 people on a machine to only 3 people needed for a highwall miner. Less people are needed and they must be very computer literate because so much of the opertion is computerized. Young people have no problem running the machines. 12 feet wide is the maximum width cut by a highwall miner, and it must be self supporting roof for the highwall miner to be used. A continuous miner will mine 20 feet wide so it needs beams to hold up the roof. It takes about 22 tractor trailers to move a highwall miner. This was a very interesting experience and I look forward to being sent more information which I can use for my math classes as I teach about functions. I plan to use information about how many tons are mined, to time taken per ton, to costs to run the machine. Together with information about other mining methods, we will eventually use the information for students to debate the pros and cons of different types of mining. There will definitely be issues to debate focused on everything from safety, to impact on the environment, to employment differences.

Day 4 Morning

Day 4 Morning began at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. We rode through the underground mine, and I made sure to sit on the side closest to the inside wall. Last year when I came, I sat on the other side and it was a challenge to see anything! Marvin was our guide, and he was a lot of fun. He worked in a mine for 24 years. He did a very nice job describing the tools used to make sure the miners' air was safe. Marvin explained that canaries would die after 5 minutes of methane exposure and miners would have 15 minutes to get out. Later methods advanced and lights were used to guard against methane and black damp, or lack of oxygen. We saw how bolts were put into the top to support the ceiling, too. Then we went through the coal town and saw how small the miners' homes were. A three room home was normal, including a kitchen, living room, and bedroom. When kids came into the picture, the living room became a bedroom. Here are some pictures of the mine and the town. The final picture is of a one room shanty for a single miner or man away from his family for the week.

Day 3 Afternoon

The second part of day 3 began with a search for a dry place for lunch. We had a picnic, then we headed to Nuttallburg Abandoned Coal Community. The first 2 pictures are of Nuttallburg. We trekked out toward the old coal tipple. A couple of groups did water samples and discovered high conductivity in the water. Both positions had conductivity readings over 125 so there is a lot of metal in the water. Then we discovered we could not go all the way to the tipple because work is being done to create trails in the area. After that we went to the New River Gorge Welcome Center to see the bridge. The third picture is of the bridge. We even traveled below the bridge to get a unique perspective. Unfortunately to see the bridge I got out of the van in poison ivy. I am praying I do not get it. My husband just got over having it for weeks. We were given about 30 minutes in the hotel before Bob Evans so I rushed to shower before dinner to fight the poison ivy. To end a good day, I am so pleased to be in my hotel room before 8! Thank you Dennis and Steve!

Day 3 Morning

Day 3 morning began with waking up in my favorite hotel from our adventure last year. We were in the Lewisburg Holiday Inn Express. One of my favorite things is the beds having 2 firm pillows and 2 soft pillows. They are even marked for you! Ok, on to today. We began with a drive up to Joe Knob - what an adventure! Van 2 piled into our van, and we started the bumpy trek up the mountain. The rain began pouring, and we saw a huge lightning bolt that flashed for such a long time. That was a really amazing sight. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to take a picture. Ok, since it was raining so much we did not get out of the vans, but we did have Dr. Mike Little in the van so he talked us through the trip up the hill. The area is a huge mountain top removal production. The company is reclaiming the land, but it is not nearly as biologically diverse as the Yellow Creek area. There is also an area called Buck Lilly Gob Piles which is full of the unused remains of the coal. He explained that there are people who work for the Department of Environmental Protection who monitor the water as their full time job. It is like a different world when you start bumping up the road and see the desolation from the removal of the mountain. Driving on the main road, people would have no idea of the changes taking place on the mountain just a few feet from the road. This was the only picture I got from this experience.

Day 2 Afternoon

Day 2 part 3 began at Coketon Douglas where we saw some very orange rocks and water due to the pyrite released during mining. It was hot and sunny and my team worked so well together to gather our data. We tested at an area where a very orange stream met a greenish stream. The orangish stream full of pyrite was more acidic by about 1.5 than the greenish stream which was treated with limestone. Then we traveled down to the amazing orange waterfall.