Between the Lines Q&A

A weekly column featuring progressive viewpoints
on national and international issues
under-reported in mainstream media
for release May 21, 2010

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West Virginia Activists Win Funds
for New School for Students
Endangered by Coal Industry

RealAudio MP3

Interview with West Virginia activist Ed Wiley,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus

coal

In the shadow of the coal mine explosion that killed 29 workers on April 5, local residents and their allies have scored a victory against the indifference of big coal companies and government. Marsh Fork Elementary School was built in West Virginia's bucolic Coal River Valley in the 1940s, but decades later, Massey Energy surrounded the school with a coal processing plant, a coal slurry impoundment, and a mountaintop removal mining operation. Massey is the same company that owns the Upper Big Branch mine where the deadly explosion took place in April.

For years, local residents, joined by celebrities like actress Daryl Hannah and climate scientist James Hansen, protested outside the school, demanding that the students be moved. Their call fell on deaf ears until an agreement was worked out in mid-May that pools funding from the state of West Virginia, Raleigh County, Massey Energy, and the Annenberg Foundation. A new school will now be built in a different location, with ground breaking at the new site scheduled for next year.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ed Wiley, a local resident whose granddaughter attended the school and was often sick. In 2006, he walked from Charleston, W.V. to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness and meet with West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, whom he asked for help to build a new school. Here, Wiley describes the situation the students confronted and explains how victory was won.

ED WILEY: Many problems there -- you've got the processing plant, the dam, the mountaintop removal site, the silo which is directly behind the school. They're waiting to build a second silo. The silo has a belt line that comes from the plant; you have a lot of coal dust that falls off this belt line. As they're loading the train in the winter time, they put antifreeze in the bottom of the train cars; it leaks out as it's going down the track into our water system. Once the coal is being loaded onto the train and comes out of the silo, they have a binding agent they spray on top that causes a lot of breathing problems; asthma, kidney and liver failures and it will cause cancer -- there's been traces of it found at the school. The list actually goes on and on and on. This are just a few of the bigger issues we've pointed out.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Ed Wiley, in 2006 you walked almost 500 miles from Charleston to Washington, D.C. to ask West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd to help the community get a new school. Do you think he helped your cause?

ED WILEY: I figured well, if anybody could help me without hurting their reputation, without hurting their politics, without worrying about rocking the boat a little bit, Sen. Byrd could. So he did promise me that he would turn over every stone to help me find the money. He's done nothing. It's sad that he didn't help. He's made a couple statements that helped, but not to the extent it should have helped. You know, what's a statement? We finally got a statement -- now back your statement up. I feel that he could have done more for the issue, and there's still a lot more he could do for the issue.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Ed Wylie, I was actually visiting you last fall when the Raleigh County School Board finally asked the state Board of Education to provide the funds to build a new school. And the school was one of many in the state that were listed for funding, but then the total was millions more than the state had available, so they cut Marsh Fork's allotment from $6 million to $4 million. How did that get resolved so that you are going to be able to build the school?

ED WILEY: No. 1, Marsh Fork should have been put at the top of the board and gotten its money first, no questions asked, for the shape it's in. Then to start cutting $2 million from this project out of $6 million, it was sad. So when we left out of there, that was their final say, that we're pulling $2 million off of Marsh Fork, and the county and the coal company comes up with it, or you get nothing. I was sick at that point. I was very upset, but I was more sick, I guarantee people could tell you I was blue in the face -- I was shocked to watch that political circus go on.

So, we get back, and actually through the 31st thing (last year's protest) with Daryl Hannah, a man named Jerry that was handling Daryl was in this valley. He's been here a couple of times. So when he went back to California, we had the mining accident (Upper Big Branch), and he just happened to be with Charlie Annenberg, and they seen this mining accident here in West Virginia, in California. And Charlie Annenberg was talking to Jerry, and Jerry said, "I just come from there. Right there where all that press is, is where the hassle is over this school." So they seen the accident happen, and Charlie Annenberg wanted to come to West Virginia to see for himself and see the school and see what he can do.

So, he came. Actually, he wanted to help everybody; he wanted to make this a neutral thing. So he learned what the state school board authority did to Marsh Fork by pulling the $2 million, and we might possibly not get the money at all. Charlie was just sent from heaven, that's all there was to it, that's all I can say. So he came, and talked to the governor, and they worked this out. Charlie actually give $2 million to the community as a gift, you know, as the miners passed away, that was some of it. And actually to help this community. He seen that there's nothing from Whitesville to Glen Daniel. He wants to help get this community back on its feet. This is what he does. And he brought it from his heart, he stepped up to the plate, and he gave us $2 million for the school.

Now it's supposed to get moving right away. We're talking in 14 months the school's going to be built. And at this time we're looking for people to help make this school green. The state school board and the county is working with us, they want it to be a green school. We need it on paper that we can get the solar and the windmills in there. The solar would be a huge thing. That's in the next four weeks; within the next four weeks anything we have to step up the plate to make this a green school in this valley, now is the time to do it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Well, congratulations on your hard-won victory.

ED WILEY: Well, it just wasn't me, or just a couple people in this community. There were so many people from around the nation. Environmental groups -- we owe them so much. Just plain folks, all the school children from New York and different parts of the U.S. sent money. People across the seas who called and sent money, and tried to help. A big network of people out there, from young and old to all ages, who tried to help us, and did help us, with this issue, and we thank all these people from the bottom of our hearts.

For more information on local efforts to stop coal operations from destroying communities, contact Coal River Mountain Watch at (304) 854-2182 or visit their website at www.crmw.net

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Melinda Tuhus is a executive producer of Between The Lines, which can be heard on more than 50 radio stations and in RealAudio and MP3 on our website at http://www.btlonline.org. This interview excerpt was featured on the award-winning, syndicated weekly radio newsmagazine, Between The Lines for the week ending May 28, 2010. This Between The Lines Q&A was compiled by Melinda Tuhus and Anna Manzo.

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