This past summer, Shannon Bell, a graduate student in sociology, traveled to two economically ravaged towns in West Virginia and conducted 40 face-to-face, random interviews. In a presentation Friday, Bell argued that the nation’s coal industry has contributed to the destruction of coal mining communities, which has allowed these companies to take part in unjust practices.
As of press time, the coal companies she accused could not be reached for comment.
The companies, Bell said, have destroyed the towns’ social capital, the level of connectedness among people in a community. According to literature and experts Bell cited, social capital levels are higher in rural areas; that is, in smaller towns, people are more connected and trustworthy.
“Basically, it’s what holds societies together” said Bell.
But West Virginia, the second-most rural state in the United States, has the eighth-lowest social capital nationally. Bell attributed this to the influence of the coal industry over West Virginians.
The coal industry in West Virginia is number two in the nation, after Wyoming. Coal brings in $3.5 billion gross state product annually, Bell said. But coal’s influence is more than just economic.
“West Virginia’s identity is tied to coal,” Bell said.
While historically, coal companies have been responsible for many of the region’s jobs, the number of hired workers has been drastically reduced as a result of mechanization of the mines.
Bell presented several controversial mining practices that are widespread in West Virginia. West Virginian coal companies usually collect coal through mountaintop removal coal mining, a technique in which they blast off mountaintops with dynamite and scrape the coal from the mountain’s exposed bowels. Bell said that this technique leaves nothing left on the mountain to stop the flow of rainwater, increasing the number and intensity of annual floods. Bell spoke of one woman whose house was completely destroyed during a flood in 2003.
“If it’s raining, no one in our house sleeps,” she told Bell.
Bell conducted her interviews and made observations in the towns of Coalville, a mining town, and Farmstead, a non-mining town. Both of these towns had almost identical demographics. In Coalville, Bell experienced a high level of mistrust, compared with Farmstead. She spoke of the omnipresent “No Trespassing signs” and locked chain link fences, which were almost non-existent in Farmstead. The residents of Coalville spoke of how there was no connection between neighbors anymore.
Through her interviews, Bell attributed this mistrust and lack of social capital to a major coal industry conflict in 1981. Massey Energy Company, a non-union coal company, bought out the union mines in the area, Bell said, causing conflict among the residents. The violence and resistance to Massey Energy was due in part to the struggle of the community to unionize the mines in the first place. The fathers and grandfathers of many residents had died fighting for the unionization of the mines, she said. Bell recognized that many in the community saw this win as a time when people overcame oppression. Massey’s entrance into West Virginia was seen as “an end of an era,” Bell said.
Massey Energy could not be reached as of press time, but its Web site states that it offers scholarships to medical students, funding for local schools and puts on community sports tournaments.
For Bell, this research was part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and her passion towards the people in the community was evident. She spoke of her interviewees fondly and by first name. She was able to instantly recall background information of each individual.
“I really enjoyed doing this,” she said at the end of her presentation. “Meeting people, going through the interview process, it’s what I wanted to do.”
Bell’s conclusion about social capital proved to be not only relevant to the coal mining towns of West Virginia but a statement about the importance of trust in general.
“If people do not trust each other, they are less equipped to fight injustice,” she said.
Assistant Professor of Sociology Michael Aguilera celebrated Bell as a successful and driven student. He was impressed the results of her research, he said.