Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Appalachian Praxis: Promoting Re-development of former Mountain-top Removal Sites
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The dramatic decline of the Appalachian coal industry in the past few years due to competition from other fuels and new EPA regulations has made an already bad situation desperate. What can be done to promote new, sustainable economic activities? Value-added manufacturing offers the best prospect for providing well-paid jobs for people of the coal fields, but very few industrial sites are available due to the mountainous and broken topography. Former mountain-top removal sites offer prospects for re-development. Such efforts were mandated by the 1977 Surface Mining Control & Regulation Act, which authorized mountain-top removal on the condition that a "higher use" be found for reclaimed sites. The development of magnet, mountain-top, manufacturing communities based on sustainable principles will be recommended in this paper. Considerable consideration will be given to philosophical and political barriers that block our way forward in this vital effort.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Dr. Michael E. Workman is Assistant Professor of History at West Virginia State University, where he teaches U.S., European, Labor & Industrial history. His publications and research focus on labor and industrial history, northern West Virginia's Mine Wars, and Appalachian local and political history.
Appalachian Praxis: Promoting Re-development of former Mountain-top Removal Sites
The dramatic decline of the Appalachian coal industry in the past few years due to competition from other fuels and new EPA regulations has made an already bad situation desperate. What can be done to promote new, sustainable economic activities? Value-added manufacturing offers the best prospect for providing well-paid jobs for people of the coal fields, but very few industrial sites are available due to the mountainous and broken topography. Former mountain-top removal sites offer prospects for re-development. Such efforts were mandated by the 1977 Surface Mining Control & Regulation Act, which authorized mountain-top removal on the condition that a "higher use" be found for reclaimed sites. The development of magnet, mountain-top, manufacturing communities based on sustainable principles will be recommended in this paper. Considerable consideration will be given to philosophical and political barriers that block our way forward in this vital effort.
