KFTC frequently sponsors Mountain Witness Tours that visit communities directly impacted by the day-to-day realities of mountaintop removal mining. This is a chance for visitors to see the destruction of mountaintop removal first hand and hear the stories of the people who are forced to live with it. Whitney Hammons of Louisville attended a Mountain Witness Tour to Island Creek in Pike County.

We went there [Island Creek] and we spent the afternoon eating lunch and talking with people who are from that area, and who are impacted by what the coal companies are doing there. We got to ride around with them and they took us to their houses. They showed us the dirt roads; they told us about not even being able to use their water to drink - the health department has told them not to even use their water to cook with.
I really think that seeing what’s happening is very important. You can look at pictures and people can tell you about it, but you just don’t really realize the destruction that it is unless you experience it and see it. In comparison to the beautiful mountains, you just see miles of dry dirt, where it was a wilderness, and trees.
I think it is right to honor and propel the voice of the people who are directly affected. These people speak for the land. They’re not really speaking for themselves so much as they’re speaking for the planet because they’re so close to the earth, they’re so close to those mountains. They’re actually the voice of the earth. And they’ve always been; they live of the earth. So it’s really something that should be heard and listened to – especially now with all the destruction that’s happening.

Whitney Hammons
Louisville, KY

To learn more about KFTC’s Mountain Witness Tours visit www.kftc.org or click on KFTC.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Island Creek, KY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.