Year: 2015
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The Problem with Environmental Activism in Appalachia
June 5, 2025: I wrote this not longer after defending my undergraduate thesis on negative environmentalist stereotypes in Appalachia. I later continued this course of study at Virginia Tech as a master’s student in sociology. There, I learned about the non-profit industrial complex and that some larger environmental organizations actually thrive on creating division between…
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Christmas at the Mines
Right after Thanksgiving, everyone at the mines would start getting into the Christmas spirit. Even though we knew it was a month away, we couldn’t wait for the days off to spend with our families. Some of us would bring in ornaments to hang on our equipment, and on some sections, someone would bring a…
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Obama Has Killed Coal
When it comes to money and power, nothing is cut and dry, and it never seems to be in the interest of the working people. After seeing more signs and billboards pointing out specific politicians and agencies for the woes of the Appalachian coal miner, I knew someone wanted me to think a certain way.…
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The Modern Day Company Town
Most Appalachians raised in coal country can easily describe what a “company town” is. They are littered throughout Appalachia, rows of identically built houses with a few larger homes built on the hillsides for the shift foremen and superintendents. Company towns existed during a time in our history when the coal companies ruled our lives.…
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Everything They’ve Taken, Everything They’ve Left
There are many days I think about all that has happened in our mountains, all that we’ve sacrificed, and I can’t help but have a cathartic release. This was one of them. Nick Mullins, June 5, 2025 I recently made the following comment on a story posted by WVNS Channel 59 entitled “Coal Mining: Then…
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The Truth About Coal Ash
When I was a kid, they told us about acid rain in school. I even remember seeing a news broadcast in which the reporter, standing in the middle of a cemetery with an umbrella, explained the damage it was causing to the tombstones. The solution was to put scrubbers on all the coal-fired power plants, or…
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Friend of Coal? Read this…
A while ago I decided to do some investigating on who or what “Friends of Coal” was. What I found surprised me (well… not really). Friends of Coal wasn’t a group of coal miners and their families working to help one another during hard times. It was the coal operators. At first glance, their website…