Coal Heritage:

On Tuesday, March 3, Keely Kernan and Elise Keaton lead an audience through perhaps one of the most controversial and impactful issues West Virginia, the nation, and the world has ever faced – the reliance and continued use of nonrenewable resources. The Impact of Coal on the Environment was the second installment of the 2015 Coal Heritage Lecture Series. The event took place at the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center in Beckley, and was free and open to students and the public.

Freelance photographer and independent filmmaker Keely Kernan spoke of extreme forms of extraction, such as mountaintop removal and fracking, and their impact on people, communities, and the environment. She also discussed the resulting water pollution from these extreme forms of extraction, the transition from coal to natural gas, and renewable forms of energy, such as solar power.

Elise Keaton, an Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Greenbrier River Watershed Association and former Director of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, told the story of how she became an activist, and spoke about water pollution caused by mountaintop removal and the installation of infrastructure for natural gas pipelines.

The lecture began with the speakers and their slideshows that depicted how coal, fracking, and pipeline infrastructure affect people and the environment. Kernan’s presentation included her photography of mountaintop removal sites, polluted water sources, and communities that have experienced the negative impacts of extraction. Keaton’s displayed the process of installing pipeline infrastructure, water pollution resulting from that process, and the current outline of future pipeline routes being discussed for West Virginia.

An extended trailer for the film “In the Hills and Hallows” was shown immediately after the lecture. The film focuses on the boom and bust of the coal industry and how it is being replaced by natural gas. A question and answer session closed out the lecture. Many of the audience members had taken notes and had plenty of questions by the end of the presentation – from policy issues to what Kernan and Keaton thought to be the most impactful issue, coal or natural gas.

Kernan believes that West Virginia is at a “cross-roads,” and that the state needs to transition from “fossil fuels to more sustainable and responsible forms of energy.” She says, “I think it is extremely important that we, as citizens, engage in the conversation about our future, about what we want to see as our future, and what risks there are.”

Part of this future, for Kernan at least, is solar energy. She informed the audience of two organizations, Solar Holler and West Virginia Solar United Neighborhoods. These organizations are working hard to implement this renewable resource into West Virginia’s communities. Solar Holler works to create solar power cooperatives throughout the state, and West Virginia Solar United Neighborhoods assists in the development of renewable energy programs in communities across West Virginia.

One of the main themes throughout the entirety of Keaton’s lecture was the availability of clean water, and seeing water as a precious resource. She engaged the audience, “What is the value of guaranteed access to clean drinking water? Not what you pay at the store for it, but the value of it. And why is that not part of [West Virginia’s] economic discussion? […] Let’s have an honest conversation about it.”

She spoke of how West Virginia’s water pollution issues have yet to be seriously addressed, and that this will emerge as a major problem in the upcoming years if pollution issues continue to be ignored.

Both Kernan and Keaton touched on other hot topics, such as The War on Coal, the disruption of the water cycle due to extreme forms of extraction, and the harmful, detrimental impacts on people who live near mountaintop removal sites.

The Coal Heritage Lecture Series is part of a class taught by Karen Vuranch, Coal Culture in West Virginia. Vuranch says the lecture series gives her students deeper insight into Coal Culture, and the public the opportunity to join the discussion.

This month’s lecture, The Impact of Coal on the Environment, is part of a counter-argument. The opposing argument, The Impact of Coal on the Economy, will be address on Tuesday, April 7. This event will feature Bill Raney, Director of Friends of Coal.

Kenny Perdue will speak on May 5 about the changing environment and issues of labor in America in the last lecture of the series, Labor in America Today. Perdue is the Executive Director of the West Virginia American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (WV AFL-CIO).

Transportation will be provided to each event for Concord students on the Athens campus courtesy of Student Activities and The Office of Housing and Residence Life. Sign up should occur any day prior to the events at the Student Affairs Office on the second floor of the Student Center on Concord’s campus. The van will leave at 6 p.m. the day of the event from the front entrance of the Student Center. All events are the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m at the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center in Beckley in room E 10.

This event is co-sponsored by the Concord Univeristy Beckley Center and the National Coal Heritage Area Authority. For more information on the 2015 Coal Heritage Lecture Series, contact Karen Vuranch at kvuranch@concord.edu, or call the Concord University Beckley Center at (304) 256-0270.