Shepherd University class to visit coal mines after studying mountain top removal

ISSUED: 19 March 2008
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
(Shepherd University class to visit coal mines after studying mountain top removal)

Shepherdstown, WV--Shepherd University advanced composition students will travel to Canaan Valley on March 27 to examine coal mining and mountain top removal.

Students will see how what they have read in books such as Moving Mountains, Coal River, and Big Coal becomes reality when they see the results of mountain top removal, tour a windmill farm, and interview local residents on how these events affect their lives. This trip was made possible with the help of Holly Frye, director of Student Community Services and Service Learning, and Dr. Stephanie Barnett, visiting assistant professor of English.

"Mountain top removal is a vicious cycle with the town depending on the coal and the coal dependent on the workers in the town," said Susan Irving, a sophomore.

Mountain top removal is a type of strip mining used by coal companies to blast off the top of the mountain to access the coal underneath. This leads to a visual emptiness through the West Virginia countryside and blankets thousands of inhabitants with dust.

For more information, contact Alex Lemley at bleml01@shepherd.edu or Susan Irving at sirvin02@shepherd.edu.

-30-HORST

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