Growing up in West Virginia, I learned a lot about how the people in Appalachia had been taken advantage of. The energy companies found that we had valuable coal in our mountains, and moved in to rip it out. They provided jobs for many years, but when the coal was mined out, they left or went bankrupt – leaving people poor, with no jobs, water that can “melt bootleather”, streams that run red, and land that grows nothing but grass
and a few shrubs.

Now, it turns out we still have something left in our land. Natural gas can be mined from thousands of feet below the ground. A new set of companies are all set to begin the cycle again – paying a few thousand dollars for the right to mine, and moving in temporarily, and then leaving behind air, water and land that is even more damaged than it was before.

We need to learn from the past. Of course we need jobs, and we need the gas to heat our houses, but we don’t have to let them destroy our lives to get them! We need to make sure that they drill with justice – make sure they do it right, so our wells are not poisoned, so that we are not breathing toxins, and so that when the gas is gone and they leave, we are not left with nothing.

Because I am sure of one thing – in thirty years, when these companies are gone, they will not be paying for your bottled water, or your and your children’s hospital bills.