More mining disasters waiting to happen

WHEN it comes to the death of 12 coalminers in the US, this West Virginian has been comforted by the sympathetic letters to our newspapers from people in many communities, including some from Ireland. We cherish their healing words.

However, please be aware of the continuing cost of coal-fired electricity; a cost that goes beyond lives lost in deep mine accidents.

Find out about Mountaintop Removal. Just type those words and see the results on a computer search.

Discover how Appalachian people and towns live in loss and danger every day, and read about desperate efforts to save the mountains we love.

Find out about mining disasters involving deadly flash floods, the collapse or poisoning of wells and water systems, and about elementary schools dwarfed by ominous earthen dams.

It shouldn’t be happening in America, or anywhere. But it is.

Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Cynthia Dunlap Ellis

RR 1, Box 163

Red House, WV 25168

Putnam County

West Virginia

USA