Chase Hays est “torn”. After seeing floods ravaging his hamlet in the Appalachian Mountains, he filed a complaint against the mine that overlooks it, but this 34-year-old American does not want to be perceived as a “enemy” coal. Like him, residents of eastern Kentucky are struggling to challenge an industry that has long offered the region’s only high-paying jobs. And, with the approach of the mid-term elections, few candidates dare to talk to them about climate change.
However, Kentucky has been devastated recently by extreme phenomena: in December, unprecedented tornadoes killed 80 people in the west and, at the end of July, rains of incredible violence carried away 40 inhabitants in the east.
Settled at the bottom of an isolated valley, at the edge of a small stream, Chase Hays had never seen water rushing down so quickly. Barely had he had time to cut a fence to flee with his family, when the current had destroyed his porch, an above-ground swimming pool, a pig… and flooded the foundations of his prefabricated house. Although he still cannot live there, this stay-at-home dad feels he is “one of the luckiest” of the place called “River Caney”, where about twenty houses were completely destroyed and two women carried away by the waves. Moreover, he was insured, unlike his neighbours, some of whom still sleep in tents, with no prospect of finding a roof before winter.
“For them”, he decided to file a complaint against the mining company that extracts coal above the hamlet. Chase Hays is indeed convinced that one of its water reservoirs gave way when the rain intensified. “The explosions were much too strong, it must have cracked the basin”explains this man with a bushy beard while receiving AFP in his still muddy garden, cluttered with piles of soggy glass wool.
Decapitate the mountains
However, this man, who comes from a family of miners, is careful not to generalize: “What happened here was due to a maintenance issue but I can’t say the whole industry is to blame”. About 50 neighbors have joined in his complaint, including Christy White, a 57-year-old woman whose dapper home is a damp carcass.
This dynamic grandmother, whose voice breaks at the mention of the deluge, also blames the maintenance of the local mine but goes a little further. “If you blow up the earth, drill it, cut its corners, something will happen eventually, it’s common sense…” In recent years, mining companies in the Appalachians have developed a mining technique that consists of decapitating the tops of mountains to gain easier access to coal seams.
Despite controversies, its impact on flooding remains “uncertain”, notes William Haneberg, a geologist at the University of Kentucky. This technique “lays the rocks bare, removing trees and all vegetation”, he said. On the other hand, the rubble is dumped in the valleys, “which flattens the ground and could decrease the intensity of the floods.”
On the other hand, “there is a strong consensus” among scientists to blame climate change on burning fossil fuels, says Haneberg. “In this way, the coal mines have a clear responsibility in recent events.”
“Hostility”
However, this evidence is struggling to prevail in Kentucky, which still has 20% of the coal mines in operation in the United States.
Chase Hays has heard about climate change studies, of course. “But it’s not a good topic of conversation around here, because without the coal, this place is going to collapse…” An unlabeled town councilor in the neighboring town of Hazard, Luke Glaser, who has been very involved in the rescue, confirms the existence, locally, of“hostility to climate initiatives”. “Appalachians are proud that their work has fueled the country for decades and feel like their jobs are under attack, but also their values”explains this candidate for his re-election.
The state also swung to the Republican camp in the 1990s. “partly because of energy issues”, recalls Steve Voss, professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. Since then, the candidates of both parties have taken care to “present as friends of coal”, even though a few Democrats are starting to talk about the climate, he says. Whatever they may say, “I don’t think the floods will have an impact” on the November election, believes Chase Hays.
In this poor part of the state, “one feels forgotten, despised and, unless someone takes drastic measures, opinions will not change”, he prophesies. As for Christy White, an avid admirer of former President Donald Trump, she’s too busy cleaning up what’s left of her home to have thought about her ballot. As she sorts through her things, she slips into doubt that climate change is the cause of her misfortune. “I think it’s God’s will. He wants to prepare us for what’s next.”