Customer Reviews

Coal River

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4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Coal River is the story of the practice of mountaintop removal mining in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia and of the people who tried to stop the practice. It also examines Don Blankenship, CEO and Chairman of Massey Energy who is considered by all involved to be the one person responsible for the most destruction.

For those not familiar with the technique, mountaintop removal mining involves literally blasting several hundred feet or more from the top of a mountain so that the coal can be extracted much more easily. The spoils of the removal are dumped over the edge of the mountain into streams that tend to run along the valley floor. That causes pollution and, in many cases, the entire closing of the stream which changes the entire hydrology of the area.

In theory, the mountains are supposed to be replaced to a near natural form at the end of mining, but that rarely happens, leaving a moonscape of rock and debris that will take thousands of years to remediate on its own. The coal companies have an agenda and will hardly allow the law to slow them down.

After reading the book I felt sick. The mountains of West Virginia are one of the prettiest places in the United States, and yet our government has been caught handing over permits for a process that is clearly illegal under the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. The courts are of little use....they, too, have been bought by big coal.

This story of the courageous fight of the men and women of the valley is must read if you care for the environment of the planet at all. It is well written and very inspirational that such a small number of people were willing to take on Big Coal.

Mr. Shnayerson is a crusader tilting at the relentless hunt for more coal in the out-of-the-way hollows of West Virginia. Strip mining has taken on a new meaning when entire mountains are leveled instead of their mountainsides. The hero of the 300+ page book is local lawyer Joseph Lovett who battles the government and the coal companies for small victories. The book is written in a conversational tone and it is clear that the author is an environmentalist. Given the near total control of West Virginia by the coal companies, that is not a bad thing.

Coal River is an account of a small group of dedicated brave mountaineers who are more than willing to go toe to toe with a ruthless coal baron. King Coal is not accustomed to having his outlaw mining operations challenged. Hats off to Michael Schnayerson for accurately telling this must read story.

This book tells an important and timely story--a story of rapacious greed. Coal companies have a long and gaudy history of abuse--abuse of both workers and the environment--and it's a history that continues.

There is much to admire about this book. It is told as a narrative and is in equal parts eco-thriller, human drama, and political/conspiracy thriller. It's entertaining and researched.

The main problem with this book is that Shnayerson is transparently biased in his storytelling. His physical descriptions of people, for example, tend toward the grotesquely unflattering for the villains (like Don Blankenship), and while he does give elements of both sides of the story, it remains obvious which side he's on. The author is fighting the good fight, yes, but to appeal to a wider audience he needs to maintain a tone of greater objectivity. He seems, for instance, surprised and disappointed that the governmental corruption that allows the coal companies' disgusting and continued abuses resides largely among Democrats--who control state government. At one point, talking about coal companies' willful lawbreaking, and the state agencies that permit it (and the judges), he says, "The law was the law, and flagrant disregard for it was hard for any judge to ignore, even a conservative one." Well, he wasn't talking about conservative judges, so where did this come from? Did he just say that conservative judges are more likely to be corrupt than liberal ones? Sure sounds like it to me. In fact, throughout the book, there are only two kinds of judges: conservative judges looking for a reason to side with the coal companies, and "moderate" judges. No liberals here (because liberals apparently all see themselves as moderate).

This sort of thing occurs throughout the book,. He will mention when a Democratic judge or administration does something legally suspect, but that's all he does--he mentions it, in passing, and doesn't dwell on it like he does Republican violators. When a conservative judge decides a case in a manner that he favors, that judge apparently does so only because the law is too obvious to ignore--too obvious even for innately corrupt conservative judges. When conservative judges decide a case in a manner contrary to his position, they are branded "activists" (the term "activist" being synonymous, apparently, with "constructionist" in this case) without further explanation. It doesn't detract, necessarily, from the entertainment value of the book because we enjoy seeing the coal companies getting their rear ends whipped, but it sure is shoddy journalism, and won't win any converts.

Shnayerson's poor handling of the story is unfortunate. In undermining his own credibility in this way, he prevents the critical reader from knowing what to trust in his account. I am a conservative who is very unhappy with other conservatives' handling of environment issues, and I would like someone to write a book like this that doesn't just preach to the choir and alienate the opposition, but that presents the issue as a problem in which we ALL have an interest. Because we do.

Still, this book's conspicuous shortcomings notwithstanding, the rapacity of the coal industry is impossible to deny. The destruction they wreak is too glaring. If only half of what this book says is true, it is still a vivid indictment of the industry and the government agencies--and the corrupt people who work in them--whose job it is to protect the public interest.

Pros: This book is a very detailed account of a grass-roots effort to confront industry leaders who have had a very large impact on the communities which host their surface mining operations. The author did a superb job of providing factual information from real-life sources who have felt the effects of surface mining first hand. The stories are intriguing and invoke passion in the reader.

Cons: At certain points the author targets a specific person or group and belabors an idea to the point of redundancy. Also, the author heavily criticizes corporate leaders and conservative politicians for their actions, but offers sympathy and justification for local "activists" during their extreme moments--giving the perception of a steady liberal bias. This bias was a distracter to me as a conservative who still loves the Appalachian Mountains and believes in conservation.

Overall great read, and well worth the reader's time. Highly recommended.

I picked up this book because it takes place close to where I grew up (much of it in the same county), because I love the mountains and fear for them, because I grew up in an area dominated by the coal industry and I have an interest and a grudging admiration for it. But I liked the book most of all for the story of a rookie lawyer and a few clients with little in the way of resources but a burning desire to fight for what's right.

At times it reads a bit like "A Civil Action," or perhaps a John Grisham novel, though the real-life tactics of restraining orders and injunctions played out over the battleground of arcane environmental regulations is hardly the stuff of a legal thriller.

On the other hand, the book has a great villain, and author Michael Shnayerson does a good job of trying to explain what motivates Massey Chairman Don Blankenship. This book was written before the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine near where much of this book plays out, and his cataloging of Massey's sorry safety record seems prophetic. Odd too, is Massey's reluctance to stand up to its controversial and -- toward the end -- arguably inept, chairman. It was only after 29 miners died at Upper Big Branch after this book was published that Blankenship got the ax.

For someone who grew up in West Virginia politics, it's a treat as well. I can remember when federal judges who now go by grander-sounding names were once Joe Bob or Chuck. I found myself wanting to tell the author a bit of backstory, but usually he came around to relating it. (Though the book mentions Richard Neely, it doesn't say he was once a state Supreme Court justice. Neither does it mention that Sen. Jay Rockefeller, now a friend of coal, once opposed strip mining. He lost big in that election.) This book is sort of like coming home for a funeral. It's good to visit and see the old friends, but the reason for being there is sad.

I very much enjoyed the book, but it has a couple of flaws, one endemic to the story, the other the author's way of telling it. The book ends where the book must, something significant happens, but it's not the end. It may never be the end. That's the nature of the fight and not the author's fault.

One reviewer here has heavily penalized the book for the author's use of biased language in describing those on one side of the debate versus those on the other. (I agree, but enjoyed everything else so much, I'm a bit more forgiving.) In one scene, a Massey security guard goes along with the plaintiff's experts on a court-ordered trip to take water samples on Massey property. Though the guard does nothing sinister, he's described as "hulking" in one sentence and a "goon" in another. It's unfair and unneeded. There's plenty of villainy without making a matinee Western out of it.

Still, it's a very good book and if you're interested in West Virginia politics or the coal industry or the fate of our mountains, you'll find it plenty interesting.

The pace of this book is as fast and compulsive as a wicked thriller, but the story happens to be completely true. Shnayerson is a natural spinner and he totally delivers the goods with this tale of good versus evil. The bad guy is the morally autistic coal baron, Don Blankenship, recently selected by Old Trout magazine as the "seventh scariest person in America." He even looks like a villain -- black mustache, lifeless stare -- and spouts social Darwinist cliches while turning tens of thousands of acres of West Virginia's beautiful mountain into a moonscape. Enabling this sociopath are his lawyers, the spineless bureaucrats in various state agencies and the Army Corps of Engineers, some of the most venal judges in America, and the craven policies of the Bush Administration.

On the other side of the moral ledger are some amazing people. Injured miners who took huge risks in fighting back. Blankenship's abused maid, who dared to stand up to him. A tenacious, underpaid lawyer named Joe Lovett. Gutsy activists like Judy Bonds, Vivian Stockman, and Ed Wiley.

If you think modern life lacks drama, check out this book. There's a real war going on in the mountains of Appalachia -- and, of course, the climate implications of that war will affect the world our grandchildren inhabit. Way to go, Shnayerson, for going to West Virginia and bringing us back this story.

This book is very well written and is an easy read. I was surprised that other than the cover photo, there are no photographs in the book documenting the horrific rape of the environment. The EPA, gutted by Bush, the state governors, senators and congressmen of WV and Tenn, and the Corps of Engineers should all be ashamed of their complicity in allowing this to happen. This is capitalism at its worst.

"Coal River" is an excellent summary account of the impact of the contemporary coal industry on southern West Virginia.

This book is great for people wanting to learn about the devastation that is mountaintop removal and the people that are dedicated to ending it. The book highlights several Appalachian natives, most notably Attorney Joe Lovett who has spent nearly a decade fighting MTR in the courts. It showcases the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collusion with coal companies resulting in hundreds of illegal mining permits. It also spends a great deal of time on Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, one of the most egregious coal companies in West Virginia.

This book will most likely frustrate you but should also inspire you.