On April 8th, I got the chance to meet Congressman Mollhan and talk about important issues that directly affect West Virginia. Mollahan stopped by the West Virginia University’s Young Democrats meeting to talk with the students. I was lucky enough to attend that meeting and get a chance to talk to the Congressman on important issues. As a member of SEAC and the Youth Action League’s political working group, I feel that one way to directly make a change in our communities is to constantly interact with our political leaders and let them know we’re watching. This is one of those times….
Congressman Mollahan is currently running for re election this year, so it’s important that he decided to visit us and get a feel for what matters to students. I found it very interesting that he was extremely critical of Massey Energy and particularly it’s CEO, Don Blankenship. We know that Massey is the root of most evil, but it was refreshing to see that an representative felt the same way. He said that Blankenship has a “personality disorder” and that he “operates like a feudal baron”. This was a good sign in that while he may support industry and coal, he wasn’t an extension of Massey’s influence.
What was most upsetting, however, was his apparent lack of knowledge about the true devastation that is mountaintop removal. I asked him what he thought of MTR and if he supported the practice. He seemed nervous, unwilling to clearly answer my question. Mollahan oversees the 1st Congressional district for West Virginia which covers most of northern West Virginia, including Monongalia County. I got the feeling that he didn’t really understand the issue, and since it wasn’t widespread in his district then he chose not to focus on it. I wouldn’t say that Mollahan is apathetic to the issue, but he certainly wasn’t vehemently against it either. This is where we can really act-if we can get him to see MTR up close and personal, and let him know “hey this could really take root in your district and destroy it”, maybe he will see not only the true cost of coal, but the importance on ending MTR forever. That’s the hope anyway. After the meeting, I also got to briefly talk one on one him and focused again on MTR. He admitted that he had personally never seen an mountaintop removal site up close, but mentioned he was very against it when the proposal for an MTR site came up near his childhood home of Webster County. I personally think Mollahan is on the fence with the issue of MTR. Again, if we can get him to really take a hard look at what it does to the people and the environment, we might be able to get him on our side.
My friend asked an important question and raised an interesting point-in West Virginia, some of the poorest communities are those that also rely on heavy mining and mountaintop removal. She asked if there was any legislation that could keep revenue in the state as opposed to it leaving and supplying out of state companies. This brought up in my mind the key question facing many of us activists-how do we transition from dirty non renewable energy to safe, clean, alternative supplies without completely destroying coal dependent economies like West Virginia? It’s a tough question, and we are working to get that answer. West Virginia can transition from a coal state to a renewable energy economy, but it’s going to take time. We can have a market that not only produces energy, but keeps its revenues in the states and helps build communities instead of destroying them. If we can get people like Congressman Mollhan on board with clean energy and the end of Mountaintop removal, then we could see a reduction in so many of the problems facing the Mountain State.
We’ve got our work cut out for us this year. Let’s focus on getting our representatives to understand our issues. We can let them know we’re not happy about what’s currently going in this state. We’re sick of seeing our mountains destroyed and our communities exploited. We need to really push them to see what matters most to us-the end of MTR, community building, a sustainable Appalachia, and clean energy. Let’s make 2010 the year when the youth movement takes an active stand for our homes and environment and demand real action from our political leaders!