COAL COUNTRY is a dramatic look at modern coal mining. We get to know working
miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We hear from
miners and coal company officials, who are concerned about jobs and the economy and
believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people. Both sides
in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for
generations, and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a
deep love for the land, but MTR (Mountain Top Removal mining which has leveled over
500 Appalachian mountains) is tearing them apart. We need to understand the meaning
behind promises of “cheap energy” and “clean coal.” Are they achievable? At what
cost? Are there alternatives to our energy future?

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Coal Country CD, DVD and Book available NOW!!!
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COAL COUNTRY MUSIC (THE COMPANION CD)
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available now at select stores:

Coal Country MUSIC!!!
- CEDAR HILL REFUGEES WITH RALPH STANLEY - GILLIAN WELCH - CELESTE KRENZ -
- JASON AND THE SCORCHERS - JOHN PRINE - KATHY MATTEA - JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE
-JASON WILBER - SHIRLEY STEWART BURNS - NATALIE MERCHANT - TOM T. HALL -
- BONNIE RAITT - PHYLIS GELLER - JEAN RITCHIE - THE KLEZMATICS -
- SCHUYLER FISK - PUBLIC OUTCRY - WILLIE NELSON -

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Big Kenny Alphin
BIG KENNY'S BONUS MATERIALS CLICK HERE!!!

The leaders of these coal companies...man, they know... they're just
exhuming cash! And that's all they give a damn about, and that ain't cool.
And to not take into consideration the true cost of that coal...yeah, coal might
seem to be a cheap energy source... but the true cost to us as Americans is not
cheap. When you take into consideration health, and environmental cost, why,
you couldn't afford coal at all! You can't replace the Appalachian trail, you can't
replace the oldest bio diversity of an enviornment that we have in this country.
You can't clean the water, it takes decades and decades for mother nature to
do it. It makes more sense to not do it in the first place, since we know now
that there are some other alternatives to the way we are fueling our country.
There's better ways, man! The greatest form of conservation is conservation
itself. Turn your lights off when you ain't using 'em.

I know that this practice of exhuming coal by mountain top removal mining
is hurting people. And it's not right for anyone to do that. When you see the
arrogance of some of these leaders that are running these companies... they
know they are making money hand over fist, and they just don't care.

(Singing) "Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere..." that's what
I'm here to talk to you about... if we don't do somethin', there ain't gonna
be no mountains for me to tell it from!

Transcribed from an interview during the NRDC Music Saves Mountains concert.

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Kathy Mattea



Coal Country is an important piece of work, helping to give voice to the staunch
and tenacious activists who have taken on the coal companies rather than go quietly
somewhere else. The companion CD adds a contemporary layer to the story of life
in the coalfields, a tribute to the people, the place and the ongoing struggles there.

I saw some reclamation that looked good… I saw some reclamation that they
said was good, but I didn’t agree with.  I said, "well... that looks like a golf course,
but that’s the ugliest golf course I’ve ever seen." A bunch of trees do not a forest
make. Not these kinds of forests. It’s a question of the biodiversity that’s being
lost. If you are person who lives next to one of these mines... if you have a mine
within a half a mile of your house… this thing’s gonna be mined for decades. If
these are the decades that are the prime of your life, it doesn’t matter if they reclaim.
You’re life has turned into hell. If it’s the prime of your life, and the entire contour
of the land, the makeup of the forest, and life as you know it get’s completely
altered, what you’ve lost is not quantifiable, but profound.
You know, I met a coal mining operator that bends over backwards to try to stay
within the environmental parameters that have been laid out.  And in fact his employees
were proud... really proud of their work because they said we’ll go further than
we’ll have to. I can really see their frustration for not being seen for what they are
trying to do. By the same token, all of that discussion takes place with the premise
that mountain top removal is ok to begin with. And that’s the discussion we
need to have. It’s really hard.

About the Upper Big Branch mine disaster:
These miners are a rare breed, and the brave men on the Mine Rescue
Teams are heroes to me. I am praying for the miners, the families and the
community, that they may find solace in their grief. Their strength and faith
are an example to the rest of the world of what it means to be a West Virginian.

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Ashley Judd

"My hope is this superb documentary will shock Americans and create a surge of
urgency that stops the atrocity of mountain top removal coal mining immediately."


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Daryl Hannah

"Coal Country is incredibly moving, and an important film to see to be a truly informed citizen."

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Peter Horton

"A balanced, sober look at the reality of coal; both the good news and the bad,
and the staggering phenomenon that is mountain top mining. It not only reminds you
what it takes to turn your lights on, it'll make sure you remember to turn them off
when you leave the room."

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Woody Harrelson

“Mountaintop removal is the most devastating peacetime activity
in human history — in fact, if the destruction to our nation’s natural and
cultural heritage were being perpetrated by a foreign power, it would be
considered an act of war — because in a very real sense, it is — it
is a war against the Earth. Every week, mountaintop removal coal-mining
detonates more explosive force on the land and the communities
of Appalachia than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, to extract
the coal that is warming the planet and poisoning the water, air and land.
We should all be dedicated to ending this unsustainable, and ultimately suicidal
practice. And to promoting renewable energy alternatives and the
green jobs they will create."

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Vince Herman

"These are incredible people that are asked to do dangerous jobs for our energy needs.
This does not need to happen. I hate to think that these miners are put in danger for a
search for profit. It's not just the miners that are at risk, it's the communities themselves.
We ask an awful lot of them, just for economic reasons. The health risks are not asked
just of the miners, but the communities themselves. We are ultra sensitive to the
timing of this, but it needs to be said... let's stop Mountain Top Removal, and keep
the miners, the communities, mountains, and our country safe."
-Vince Herman / Great American Taxi (4/8/10 - about the Upper Big Branch mine disaster)