7 Responses to “VIDEO: Maria Gunnoe on Flooding”

1. BRANDON TOMBLIN Says:
   August 22nd, 2007 at 12:45 am

   This movie is total bull#$%&. Im 21 and just got my red hat strip card 2 days ago and Im trying to get a job with massey up on a strip. To say that strip mining destroys mountains is retarded. All your doing is cutting down to the coal, cutting/hauling it out to keep your f#$%&#$ lights on, and reclaiming the land to make it look as good or better than before. Massey reclaimed behind my house and accross the road from where I live and its beautiful now. The grass is green and theres always deer around. To say that mountain top removal is the cause for you getting flooded is retarded also. You live in a valley and when water gets up its gonna fill it up dumb#$%, thats what you get for living in a creek bed. If you dont want to get flooded then move!!!! (to another state)

2. Judy Says:
   September 3rd, 2007 at 12:18 pm

   Brandon, you are not cutting the mountain…you are blowing up the mountain…bombing God’s mountains… so you are talking the B..S..
   IT is NOT OK to blow up animals and people’s homes and poison people’s water so that you can buy big trucks and 4 wheelers.
   We could have jobs for everyone in WV if we could switch to renewable energy and make solar panels….
   Wind and solar makes electricity….Water is more important than coal….
   ALso how many more mountains so you think is left to mine…Soon there won’t be any mountains, water, jobs or coal what will you do then? IF you want to live in a flat state go to Kansas…you are in the wrong state. You really need to educate yourself…..

3. Anne P. Says:
   March 14th, 2008 at 7:56 am

   Wow Brandon, you sound like you’ve made a good career choice. Shortsighted, lack of empathy, uneducated to the GLOBAL ramifications of MTR, naive enough to believe company propaganda, narcissistic, self-serving, a healthy case of deformation professionnelle, AND a blossoming commmand of the english language. What’s not to love? I hope you continue to watch and learn as the effects of MTR on human life, animal life and the environment become more and more apparent everyday. This is no longer a crisis hidden behind the WV state line…Educate yourself.

4. we support coal Says:
   March 27th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

   Yes, these are GOD’S mountains and God put that coal here for man to mine. To live off the land. Some of the best natural resources available. He put it there for us to make use of and that is what we are doing. Making steel and heating homes. We have thousands of men and women employeed by these companies that surface mine. No animals are killed. They blast the mountain in small sections at a time and when they have removed the coal they plant grass and trees and it is some of the most beautiful land you will ever see. These sites would be great land to build a home away from the creeks and streams and away from flooding. I live in wyoming county and my home was also flooded in 2001 and there is not a strip mine anywhere close to me but I do live near a creek just as you do. I have lived here for 20 years and had never even had the water in my yard before but have had serveral times since the flood. If you watch the news you see that there are many states that are dealing with flooding that haven’t had to in the past and they don’t have surface mining. It’s homes near the creeks and streams that are being flooded. It has nothing to do with mountaintop removal.

5. Ronda Murphy Says:
   April 22nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm

   I would like to let Brandon on a little statistic in hopes of a job in the MTR field. The reason the coal companies want people like you in favor is it saves labor cost thus giving them a higher capital gain. In other words they get richer while the people of your community stay poor, which is statistically one of the poorest in our nation. MTR can exract more than two and half times as much coal per hour per labor worker. Which means less employess cost of labor and benefits. Between 1990-1997 10,000 miners lost jobs due to MTR being more cost effective.
   To we support coal. God gave us the earth and all his creations with it. No the deer are not being blown up. That is because all trees and dirt are removed before they ever blow up the land. We are altering the earth God created and put together. He did not work for 6 days to say here I did it now go before me and fix what I did. There are only so much of natural resources here. What are you going to do when you have used all God gave you? Also God provided wind and sun. Which also provides energy for us.
   In one county alone if wind turbine’s were installed it would generate enough tax dollars of $1.74 million versus $36,000 that the coal is paying. It seems to me this area could use some tax dollars to improve the education of many of the children there. I am from Indiana and we have several wind farms. It has provided many jobs for our state as well as tax dollars to these counties.
   Many people are afraid of change. Or unwilling to learn of new technology. It is time we start becoming accountable for stewardship of the land. Know that coal has been great and has provided great source to grow our economy for our country. As citizens we should look to the countries who are surpassing us and know we need to expand our idea’s.

6. mountain lover Says:
   September 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am

   Brandon, what town do you live in? I would bet it’s not Bob White, I do and every time they set off a blast, it feels like an earthquake, it shakes the pictures off the walls, not to mention what it’s doing to the streams and rivers, maybe when you grow up a little you’ll understand that Massey don’t give a Tinker’s damn about you or anyone else that makes him richer and richer, and you’ll be on the unemployment line whth the rest of Massey’s peons. Karen

7. Peggy Says:
   February 21st, 2010 at 1:56 pm

   Maria Gunnoe, does and excellent job of explaining the effects of mtr..and telling the heart wrenching story of how her land was destroyed, her water supply destroyed, her dog, swept away by the flood and when she went to speak out against the coal company who caused it, how she was threatened by poor, uninformed, and scared people who are lined up to do this sort of thing to their neighbors so they can get paid the pennies from King coal, not realizing the effects this will have on THIER future….we’re all in this together Brandon, Maria has a right not to have her home destroyed, as much as you have a right to work for Massey Coal. Learn how to speak your mind while allowing others the same priviledge. You sound abusive, and ignorant here.

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