Mountain Heroes: Dustin White
My name is Dustin.
200 years of my family history are lost.
Now I have to fight for my future.
“Many don't realize the thing they cling to, coal, is the thing that is harming us. The coal industry's propaganda machine is very powerful, and people here are indoctrinated early in life.”
– Dustin White
Dustin White: My Mountain Story
Dustin White is a volunteer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and Keeper of the Mountains Foundation. He spends his free time working in his home state of West Virginia and in Washington, D.C. to educate the public, elected officials, and members of Congress on the devastation mountaintop removal mining causes to the people of Appalachia. He is also working for stronger cemetery protection legislation in West Virginia.
This is Dustin's story:
My name is Dustin White and I am 29 years old. I grew up in James Creek Hollow in Boone County, West Virginia. There weren’t many children in my area, and my sister was 11 years older, so I grew up like an only child. I never had a lot of fancy toys and gadgets — none of the luxuries of the modern-day kid, but I never knew I went without.
The hillsides and all they had to offer were my playground. The rocks, the sticks, the wildlife — they were my best friends. I spent most of my childhood in the mountain stream that flowed in front of my home catching crawdads and salamanders, seeing what could be found, or just simply how far I could go. With my family, I went on trips farther up the mountains for picnics, to hunt molly moochies (morel mushrooms), and sometimes just to camp for a few nights.
I grew up at the foot of a mountain named for my mother’s side of my family, Cook Mountain, home of my ancestors. My family and I would visit the 200-year-old graves of those who were laid to rest there, including the founder of Cook Mountain, my eighth great grandfather, Floyd Cook. His son, my seventh great grandfather, William Chapman "Chap" Cook, was a Civil War soldier in the Union Army. While there were always artifacts of my ancestors’ old way of life to be discovered on our visits, our family cemetery never went unmaintained.
Like many in the region, I grew up pro-coal. My father had been a coal miner, and I had coal miners on both sides of my family since the inception of the industry. My father made me promise never to be a coal miner — he wanted better for me — but I remained a coal supporter for years.
In 2009, a mountaintop removal site on Cook Mountain owned by Patriot Coal began encroaching on the graves of my ancestors. My uncle found our cemetery access roads blocked by debris. When he inquired about the cemetery, a mine foreman responded, "What cemetery?" They were only hundreds of feet from bulldozing the graves of my ancestors. When I found out about the access problems, I told my family I would help with the cemetery issue but I would not go against coal.
Then my mother and I had the opportunity to take a flyover, thanks to Goldman Prize winner Maria Gunnoe and SouthWings. Flying over Boone County, I was absolutely stunned by what I saw. I looked down at cancerous sores on the land with all these parasitic machines eating away at the lush green forests I was accustomed to. And when we reached our destination over Cook Mountain, I saw the graves of my ancestors – in an island of trees in the middle of a vast barren, lifeless moonscape. It was no longer my family's mountain; it was an alien world that I couldn’t recognize.
One of the hardest things I have ever have had to do was watch my mother break into tears on that flight, as she saw a part of who we are, our family history, destroyed.
As soon as we got back on the ground I started doing research. I found out that people I grew up with were getting sick and even dying. It had to be the horrific water quality and the toxic, coal-dust-laced air. Entire communities, like Lindytown, just on the other side of Cook Mountain, were being erased. People were being forced from their homes because they were unfortunate enough to live between two mountaintop removal sites. The industry was calling that "friendly buy-outs." I learned these weren't isolated incidents in West Virginia, but something that was occurring throughout the coal mining regions of Central Appalachia. The more I learned, the angrier I got. I felt I had been lied to all my life by an industry that was hurting my people.
I barely left my home state for most of my life, and now I often find myself traveling across the nation to show people what is happening in Appalachia. I have been up and down the New England coast, to Colorado, and even California.
Along the way, I’ve encountered many negative stereotypes of the people of Appalachia. It’s hard to get people to realize we are not just ignorant hillbillies in the way of cheaper electric bills. We are American citizens who are suffering so others can turn on a light bulb. Even at home it is hard to get people to understand. Many don't realize the thing they cling to, coal, is the thing that is harming us. The coal industry's propaganda machine is very powerful, and people here are indoctrinated early in life. Others are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their job or having their lives threatened.
When I speak out, I like to think I carry with me the voices of the people of Appalachia’s past, present, and future who are victimized by this horrible extraction process. I do it because I feel that I owe my very existence to these mountains. My blood is in these mountains, and these mountains are in my soul. I did not choose this fight. The coal industry chose it for me. I won’t quit until all the mountains threatened are safe.
I hope that one day I will see a sustainable and economically diverse Appalachia where the people are healthy and happy. I hope I see a region that no longer needs to be sacrificed for dirty energy, a place that makes future generations proud. I want the Mountain State to be known as the Mountain State once again.
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Dustin White
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Donetta Blankenship
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Teri Blanton
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Mickey McCoy
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Jane Branham
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Cindy Rank
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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.
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Karen Woodrum
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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.
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John Slattery
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Wendell Berry
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Lisa Henderson
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Junior Walk
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Julian Martin
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Debbie Jarrell
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Bo Webb
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Amber Whittington
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Terry Tempest
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Maria Gunnoe
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Larry Gibson
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Chuck Nelson
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Alexandra Cousteau
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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.
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Woody Harrelson
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
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Comments
750 Jobs lost is sad. But what is the alternative. This greedy short term approach to living on this planet is so destructive. We must change the way we live in the world. We have no choice, simple as that.
When it's gone so are we. In 100 years we will all be gone and what will be left? I don't want to point fingers, everyone has the right to their opinions, but please take a look at the big picture. We need to help each other and all be a part of helping our beautiful planet. The earth should come first 'cause when its gone so are we.
Coal prevents jobs, coal hurts the economy. There would be no unemployment if it wasnt for coal. If someone's job is to poison my air and poison my water then they should be unemployed to the point where they starve to death. If what you do sickens my family to where they die from the illness your job created you should get more than just a job loss, you should be imprisoned for sickening my family and it was all just to make a few rich greedy corporations even richer.
This is no longer a fight about right or wrong, its about survival. Every body of water is polluted with mercury from coal and we have to limit the number of fish we eat because of coal. If a few hundred people lose their jobs its a more than fair exchange for the several billion people on this earth affected by coal.
If coal is eliminated entirely, stopped dead in its tracks then the economy would soar and we would have an uncountable number of new jobs changing our whole system to renewables. The only reason we are not rebuilding our infrastructure to run on renewable energy is because of the evil corruption of coal. They use their money to fund corrupted politicians to prevent us from moving forward onto new technologies. We are in the stone ages because of the low intelligence level of coal miners supporting their own demise. They will kill the entire planet because they cry the same old b.s. cry "we will lose our jobs" "families will starve!" Thats right, if someone is dumb enough to work for the coal industry let them starve to purge the ignorance thats hurting us all. We dont need coal. The only reason we use it is because of the powerful grip the coal industry has on the government.
SO I say let the coal miners lose their jobs and starve to death to take the power from the coal industry so the rest of the world can move onto a new form of energy thats not going to kill the planet.
I read your story Dustin and I laughed you and these different envrio groups say you just want MTR to stop but look at the impact you have on underground minning.....Coal was put here to use and coal is what is going to get us away from oil.....I would rather depend on coal than oil..Look at what the big oil companies did to us in 2001......You want to protest something well go protest our on dependency on oil....You dont want coal just because you know belong to a group something you didnt have when you was younger.....Well let me tell you something your group sucks and COAL IS WEST VIRGINIA AND GOD BLESS WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINERS AND STRIP MINERS
First of all, Dustin, thank you for taking a stand. Being from the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky, it is folks like yourself that inspire me to do something about the devastation that MTR is doing to my home.
Second, to the individual who posted about the 750 miners who lost their job. What quality life would those 750 miners and their families and the families surrounding the coal mines have? This is bigger than losing jobs. This is a crisis.
Do you expect these people will live past the age of 70? Think again. The "slurry" and the dust from these coal mines are killing not only the nature around it but the people who live below these mountains. Stop and think about it before you play the jobs lost card. Stop and think about it before you play the electricity card.
Keeping the coal industry alive for the sake of cheap electricity and a paycheck, is far more costly than that! There is a better solution out there that can take the place of MTR coal mining to ensure that the cost of electricity is still affordable and those that once worked in the coal mines can still take care of their families.
I say this, stop protecting the coal companies. Do you think that these companies care about the coal miners' bottom line? Do you think these companies care about the coal miners wallet? Do you think these companies care about what will happen to the other industries like grocery stores, nail salons and cable companies? Think again.
Coal companies care about one thing, their own bottom line, their own wallet. They want coal miners and supporters of coal to think it is about keeping the lights on and taking care of their families with a paycheck. If they have no workers, they have an empty bottom line. Do you think that the wealthy CEO's of coal companies care about what happens to their coal miners?
While these CEO's are sitting in their safe, secure offices free of sludge and coal dust, and enjoying their luxury homes surrounded by beautiful scenery, coal miners and families surrounding these mines are breathing in dirty air and consuming sludge filled water. Who has the quality of life in this picture? At an average of $22/hour, is it worth it?
Before you continue to support coal for the sake of the livelihood of the miners and their families, think about how the coal mines are already destroying their livelihood.
It is time for our government to stand up for the environment and for the people that have been effected by these coal companies. There is a better life than this and I believe God never wanted this for His children and for the home that He created for us.
Stop feeding into the propaganda of the coal companies and become better informed of the real issue here. Saving our earth and protecting our people! It's an earth-right and a human-right to live in a clean, healthy environment!
God Bless,
Amanda Thornsberry
I am sorry to hear your story. It's a crime. I support you and thank you sincerely for the work you are doing. Please continue! It's vitally important, not only for those of you in WV and KY, but for all of us.
Thank you again, Dustin.
K Rund
Who allowed the first mountaintop removal devastation to proceed? How has this crime against the Earth, against Appalachia's people and wildlife and trees and rivers and streams, been allowed to continue without end? US Senator Rand Paul said of mountaintop removal: who will miss a hill or two? Why did the people of Kentucky elect this moron to represent them? The coal companies have leveled and destroyed 500 mountains, millions of acres of beautiful forests, they have murdered untold thousands of innocent wildlife buried alive... black bears and fox and nesting birds and fish. The feudal barons of Big Coal are causing mass illness and death to thousands of residents in West Virginia and Kentucky and other dirty coal states in Appalachia. How much more devastation and death will the power brokers allow? Who will finally stop these criminals from spreading the cancer of mountaintop removal? Where is a real pro life movement in this country to save the life of the mountains, people, wildlife, tress, rivers and the entire earthly heritage of Appalachia under siege by the criminal, murderous coal barons and their supporters?
"...we need to look beyond coal, and this new mine is a step in the wrong diectrion." Absolutely! I used to work within the Petrochem and Oil industry. Don't kid yourself everyone...these guys are all tied together. Those oil guys are standing to gain from this as the next energy vice in one way or another. Not to mention imagine the lobbyist in Washington from the coal industry.Eventually China or somewhere will mine it and offer it to us cheaper, and we'll become dependent on them as we became dependent on the Middle East for oil....WAKE UP AMERICA!
Some people are making statements about the coal miners who lost their jobs today and blowing it off like it isn't anything big because they don't work in or support coal. Some people are happy about whats happening! Please take a moment to think about it like this ... 750 miners lost their jobs so thats 750 families that will have less money to buy groceries - do you work at a grocery store or in... the food industry? 750 families will not have money to buy unnecessary items at department stores - do you work at one of those? 750 families who wont be driving or traveling as much - do you work at a gas station? 750 families who will be cutting back on tv, internet, & phone expenses - do you work with any of these? 750 less families going to the doctor when they need to & not getting prescriptions filled - do you work at a pharmacy, hospital, or clinic? 750 families who wont be cashing checks at the bank or paying their loan payments - do you work at a bank? 750 families who will no longer have money for haircuts, tanning visits, nail appointments - do you work at any of those places? 750 families who will cut back on eating out - do you work at a restaurant? Some of these 750 families will have to move away from the area so local school enrollment numbers will drop that means we will need less teachers, bus drivers, cooks, and aides - do you work in the school system? The list of things could go on and on. It's not only the miners and their families that will suffer this loss. Eventually it will hit your home too. Statistics proves that for every ONE coal miner who loses their job SEVEN non-coal families will suffer the loss as well. Now is the time to pray for these families and lift them up not kick them when they are down. (Copied from a friend's wall.)
Thank you for your efforts it is going to be a hard battle hope it is won before they tear down our state. They did shut down a strip mine you can see on google map next to Summersville Lake they got a whole lot of the Mt. though. I work a lot on the Gauley River flowing out of that lake, in that one year they tore at that mountain you can already see changes in the quality of the water it really sucks these corporate scumbags get away with this what makes them think they can destroy the land God gave to us. I moved to this great state 14 years ago because I fell in love with the rivers and streams that they are trying to destroy so I thank you and wish you the best of luck in you battle.
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