Mountain Heroes: Chuck Nelson
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My name is Chuck.
I'm fighting for Appalachia and its people.
All that we are depends on ending mountaintop removal. -
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My Mountain Story: Chuck Nelson
Chuck Nelson was born and raised in Sylvester, WV, along the Coal River. For nearly 30 years he worked as an underground coal miner, and is member of the United Mine Workers of America. When mountaintop removal coal mining came to Sylvester, Chuck watched his wife develop severe asthma, saw neighbors fall ill, and looked on as an unlined earthen dam was filled with 9 billion gallons of coal waste – or sludge – two miles upstream from his town. Today he serves as chairman of the board for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, vice president of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, is on the steering committee for the Alliance for Appalachia, and also a member of the Sludge Safety Project. He tours the country with the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation educating others on the harms of mountaintop removal mining.
This is Chuck's story:
My name is Chuck Nelson. Coal mining is in my family. I’m a fourth generation coal miner, and I worked in underground mines for 30 years. I always knew I’d be a coal miner, and I liked working in the coal mines. I’d take new cuts out, and suddenly I was in places where no human being had ever been before. The guys I worked with – we were just like family. Everybody had to look after everybody else. You had to do your job to ensure somebody else’s safety. We all knew that.
I didn’t even know about mountaintop removal coal mining until I started commuting for a new underground mining job in the early ’90s. I had to get across the mountain to get to work, and I came across a sign every day that said "Mountaintop Mining Site." I couldn’t see the mining site itself, just the sign. I didn’t pay much attention to it.
Then in the late ’90s, mountaintop removal mining really started taking off around here. That’s when I saw it with my own eyes. Suddenly it seemed, I could go to any of my familiar lookouts and favorite spots and see them taking off the mountaintops. I knew they were doing a lot of strip mining, but I didn’t know it was on the scale that it was – to the extent of taking off entire mountaintops.
The first feeling when you see something like this is anger. It makes you angry, seeing that they are allowed to do something like that to the place you lived. It really made me mad to see a mountain that was always there, my whole life long, being just blown away.
And then I started seeing how our community was falling apart. Mountaintop removal mining was poisoning my people’s water and air, and making their homes uninhabitable. You see people with water that looks black coming out of their spigots. Your best friend dies with brain tumors at 29 years old.
Being a coal miner, I depended on coal to raise the family. But I knew when I went into the underground mine, I was sacrificing my own health. It was my choice, as an underground coal miner. But mountaintop removal mining is different, because it affects whole communities — people who don’t get a choice in the matter.
I started going all the way over the mountain to attend these meetings headed up by local organizer Maria Gunnoe of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. There were communities over there, just like there were here, going through rough times. But our numbers were small. How were we going to stop it? It seemed like everything — the world — was against us.
We were frustrated to see that our state and county regulators and government officials knew about what was going on — that people were getting sick, and they were aware of the studies about the health impacts – and still they let it go on.
I still can’t understand how our elected officials can just turn their heads from this. It seems like they are so dead-set on letting these companies do what they want to, while destroying our communities. But when I think about where we were then versus where we are today, I am inspired. Our movement is so much larger now, and there are people out there who really care about what’s happening in Appalachia. Today, I see people speaking out against it from every corner of this country.
Over the last few years, we have found out a lot more about the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining that we didn’t know when we started fighting it, and it’s sounding worse and worse. Funny thing about information: It can either get us down, or make our thirst for justice even stronger. I feel it is making our cause even stronger.
In this fight, we face new challenges every day, and setbacks all the time. But I keep telling myself: If you get knocked down, just get back up. That’s what courage is. You have got to keep getting back up.
Every day that I wake up, I know that I have to do something positive for this fight. And seeing that so many others from around the country are in it with me gives me a feeling of hope, and strength to keep fighting for what I believe.
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Jonathan Gensler
A former officer for the United States Army and Iraq War veteran, he is working on transforming the energy profile of the one of the largest energy consumers in the world, the Department of Defense.
"We can make a similar choice today, if we want: We can say 'Yes' to growing our economy beyond reliance on deadly fossil fuels, which will inevitably run out, and embrace a profitable future with a balance of renewable energy and enhanced efficiency, supporting healthy communities for generations to come."
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Dustin White
Dustin works to educate the public, elected officials, and members of Congress on the devastation mountaintop removal mining.
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Ken Hechler
In his early years in Congress, Rep. Hechler became an outspoken opponent of strip mining — and drafted the nation’s first law setting up safety measures for coal miners.
"There have been many uphill fights that have come out successful, and I wish we could see it for the fight to end mountaintop removal mining. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tougher it gets, the more exciting it gets when you can see victory."
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James Tawney
The son of a coal miner, James grew up on a small farm on Daupinspeck Mountain, in the scenic Gauley River canyon. Now, this area famous for its whitewater rapids is being trashed by mountaintop removal.
"To me, nothing is worth the loss of our mountains and streams. Without drinkable water, there is no life."
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Donetta Blankenship
Donetta and her family's only source of water was contaminated with toxic chemicals. Hospitalized twice for liver problems due to the poisonous water, Donetta's resolve to stand up against mountaintop removal has only strengthened.
"I am going to do all I can to try to help, to save people's lives, and help them so that they won't have to go through this with their water."
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Teri Blanton
Teri has been fighting mountaintop removal mining and toxic pollution in her home state of Kentucky for 20 years. Along with thousands of her Kentucky comrades, Teri is at the forefront of the movement for healthy communities in America.
"My children didn’t get to enjoy the creek the way I did; they grew up in the midst of coal muck in the ’80s and early ’90s."
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Mickey McCoy
Mickey is the former mayor of Inez, Kentucky, a town that captured the nation’s attention when a massive coal waste dam failed and flooded it in 2000.
"You have just got to give the human race a big high five when you see some of these people who are getting involved in this peaceful movement to stop mountaintop removal, many of them young people — it’s just wonderful ... To all my brothers and sisters who are in this movement and to those who are ready to join us, I cry, 'Hoka Hey!'"
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Jane Branham
Jane is vice president of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a citizen group in southwest Virginia that is working to protect communities from coal pollution and end mountaintop removal mining.
"My hope is that we start rebuilding our community to what it used to be before coal ever invaded our lives."
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Cindy Rank
Cindy is the humble backbone of decades of efforts to hold accountable the agencies whose responsibilities are to strictly enforce federal and state mining laws.
"I do believe that even what appear to be small victories make a difference, slow the tide of destruction, and are worth whatever improved mining practices that occur as a result. People in Appalachia are still suffering greatly, but were it not for those small victories many more communities would already be gone."
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Allen Johnson
With his strong faith and his generous heart, Allen reaches out to Christians and their congregations to educate and motivate them on injustices of mountaintop removal mining.
"These areas where they are extracting all this coal are the poorest in the country. It’s take, take, take, and not give back...Answering this call involves rebuilding central Appalachia, with a sustainable, clean, vibrant economy; a renewal of our culture of hospitality and neighborliness."
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Karen Woodrum
Karen is proud of her work as an underground miner and wants to make her message clear: she is not against coal; she is against mountaintop removal coal mining.
"There would be more jobs if they would mine it underground, and I think people’s lives would not be disrupted as they are with mountaintop removal going on. And there’s less damage done to the earth."
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Sid Moye
Sid never considered himself an environmentalist—just a regular mountain man who loves his family, loves his garden, and loves life in the mountains. But that all changed when he went to fulfill his lifelong dream of a retiring to fish in nearby mountain streams.
"When they leave, after the coal company is done with this, we'll not have any resources, we'll not have any land, we'll not have any water, the air is already poisoned."
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John Slattery
John Slattery is an actor and director, best known for his role as Roger Sterling on AMC's series Mad Men. In joining this Earthjustice campaign, John Slattery is standing with all Mountain Heroes in opposition to mountaintop removal mining.
"My name is John. Some things are better with their tops left on. I stand with the Mountain Heroes. Let's stop removing the tops off mountains."
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Wendell Berry
The author of more than 40 books of poetry, fiction, and essays, Wendell Berry is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He has dedicated much of his energy and time to the cause of saving mountains and waters.
"My connection to mountaintop removal mining is the Kentucky River, beside which I live, and I know that surface mining in the mountains of Kentucky damages the river."
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Lisa Henderson
Born in a town that went vacant because of pollution from mountaintop removal mining, she was raised under the wing of one country’s most ardent voices for environmental justice, Judy Bonds.
"We traced the polluted creek to mountaintop removal mining. We started talking to community members from the other side of the mountain, and the more we talked to people, the more we heard, "Oh, you just wait. There’s more in store for you." They were right."
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Junior Walk
From living with contaminated water in his own home as a child, to being kicked out of the house for speaking out against the coal company, Junior has had to muster courage at every step along the way.
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Julian Martin
In 1999, Julian walked across the state of West Virginia with another Mountain Hero, Larry Gibson, in protest of mountaintop removal mining. He hasn’t stop marching since.
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Debbie Jarrell
Co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch, Debbie brings her caring spirit and indomitable dedication to the movement to end mountaintop removal mining.
"I have two grown children and three grandchildren. What’s similar about their experience is the amazement and the enjoyment that they get from being out in the woods and around the rivers. But a major difference is that my grandchildren can’t kneel down and get a drink in these streams whenever they want to, because of the pollution and contamination from mountaintop removal mining."
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Bo Webb
A no-nonsense Vietnam War veteran, Bo is determined to fight for the health of communities near mountaintop removal mining. He won't give up until protections are brought to Appalachia.
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Amber Whittington
Amber's younger brother is only five years old, and he will spend his entire childhood growing up next to a mountaintop removal mining site. For his sake, she's pledged to work to end mountaintop removal mining.
"It seems hopeless at times, but it’s not. I have to remind myself that it will get better as long as I keep fighting. I’m inspired by the amazing people I’ve met who won’t back down on this. We need more people from all over the country fighting to stop this."
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Terry Tempest
Highly celebrated and decorated literary icon Terry Tempest Williams stands firmly against mountaintop removal mining. Williams' writings and books have earned her critical acclaim, and now she is using her vaunted name to try to stop this devastating mining practice and protect families across Appalachia. Join her.
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Jerry Cope
Writer, filmmaker, designer, and activist Jerry Cope is standing up for justice, clean water, healthy communities, and mountains by standing against destructive mountaintop removal mining. Will you join him?
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Daryl Hannah
Award-winning actress Daryl Hannah has thrown herself into the fight to stop mountaintop removal mining. She stands in solidarity with all Mountain Heroes. Will you join her?
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Warren Haynes
Widely considered one of rock & roll’s greatest guitarists of all time, Warren Haynes has performed on stage and in the recording studio with a diverse array of musicians including Phil Lesh & Friends, James Hetfield, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and many more.
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Alex Honnold
World-renowned climber Alex Honnold, whose famed record-setting climbs are unrivaled in the climbing world, joins thousands of Mountain Heroes in standing up to defend Appalachia's mountains and communities.
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My Morning Jacket
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Mari-Lynn
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Silas House
I'm an Appalachian. And my homeland is being destroyed.
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Maria Gunnoe
Maria's life has been threatened numerous times for her criticism of the coal industry, and she’s been assaulted and harassed, but she has refused to be silenced.
"We do not have to blow up our mountains and poison our water to create energy. I will be here to fight for our rights. My family is here, we’ve been here for the past 10 generations, and we’re not leaving."
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Edward Norton
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Larry Gibson
Considered the father of the movement to stop mountaintop removal mining, he travels the country in his signature fluorescent shirts educating the public on through his Keeper of the Mountains Foundation.
"We didn’t know what it was, or if it was legal to blow up a mountain. I mean, who does that? I just didn’t believe it, I couldn’t fathom it. But I was hearing it, and I was seeing it in the distance, and then finally I could throw a rock and hit it."
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Chuck Nelson
For nearly 30 years he worked as an underground coal miner. When mountaintop removal mining came to his area, Chuck watched the communities around him fall apart. And so his journey began.
"Being a coal miner, I depended on coal to raise the family. But I knew when I went into the underground mine, I was sacrificing my own health. It was my choice, as an underground coal miner. But mountaintop removal mining is different, because it affects whole communities — people who don’t get a choice in the matter."
Read Chuck's Story -
Alexandra Cousteau
A National Geographic "Emerging Explorer," filmmaker, and globally recognized advocate on water issues, Alexandra sees the link between our oceans and the waters that connect to them, including the important headwaters that begin in the Appalachian Mountains.
"We are drawn to the mountains like we are drawn to the sea. Could you imagine a world without either?"
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Leilani Munter
A biology graduate who became a race car driver and environmental activist, Leilani is now directing her attention to the mining practice that is devastating Appalachia. She stands with all Mountain Heroes in opposition to mountaintop removal mining.
"Mountains are being destroyed for corporate greed. There is no Planet B. Let's save this one."
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Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson is an award-winning actor and longtime environmental activist, and a steadfast ally in the movement to stop mountaintop removal mining.
"Mountains, forests, streams, birds, fauna are sacred. The closest we get to God."
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is one of our nation's leading environmental advocates and litigators. Named one of TIME magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet," Kennedy works to defend our nation's clean waterways and oppose mountaintop removal coal mining.
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Me Nelson,
We are with you in this fight to stop
Mountaintop mining , it's a sin to
to destroy these mountains and. to
In danger all these people's health.
God Bless and Gods Speed in this
Fight.
Jackie Pringle
What a heart touching story???
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If you get knocked down, just get back up. That’s what courage is. You have got to keep getting back up. - I like your motto Chuck, it is inspiring! @anonymous commenter, How do you know that he is a smoker and his wife has asthma? competition
Keep fighting Chuck!!! Even as far as I am away from all of you, in my heart I fight with you to stop this!!! I feel bad because I don't have money to help in the fight because I also know it's expensive to pay for the lawyers and all that goes with that fight. I will continue to sign whatever I can and follow the stories of either victory or defeat. Which there will be many of. Hopefully more in your favor!!! Thank you.
Mr Nelson is a perfect spokesman to educate us on poisioning the air as he poisions the air everytime he exhales poision cigarette smoke! He should clean up act before educating us. Maybe his wife's asthma would improve if he did.
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