Read Online Redemption Mountain by Gerry FitzGerald - Free Book Online Page B

’til I read about that circus down in Red Bone, and the fact that it was clear as day, they’d already made the deal with Ackerly to supply the coal. That smelled fishy to me, ’cause there’s a number of companies in the southern counties already mining the low-sulfur soft coal they need for their power plant. But, okay, Ackerly’s a big company, and maybe this OntAmex, which is a lot bigger than anything we ever been involved with, maybe that’s how they like to do business.”
    Sarah calmed down and started to eat her dinner. “Well, Bud, just because this Ackerly company’s got a contract to supply coal for the new power plant doesn’t mean they’ll open a mine on Redemption Mountain.”
    â€œSarah, there’s a little more to it,” Bud continued. “About a month after the picnic, they had some hearings about a number of permits the company would need from the county and the town of Red Bone. Them permits was what that whole picnic show was about, and it worked like a charm, with nary an objection to anything the company wanted to do. I guess it’s understandable, when you’re holding all the cards and offering all them jobs and tax dollars and whatnot. But I’m reading the story in the paper about the permits, and there’s somebody from the governor’s office, trying to grab all the credit for bringing the power plant here, who says, ‘And we’re also pleased to announce that OntAmex Energy has agreed that all of the coal burned in the new plant will have to come from McDowell County.’”
    Bud started to talk faster. “Now, for a second, don’t think about where the coal is going to come from, just think about whose deal it is. This ain’t something that the county commissioners negotiated. Those fellas mean well, but this is way out of their league. You can bet this was a deal made in Charleston, right at the beginning of this whole thing. And you can bet there was some serious negotiating going on, ’cause Ackerly Coal, and especially the OntAmex Energy Company, ain’t about to let the poorest county in about the poorest state in the union tell them where to get their coal from.”
    Sarah was getting impatient with Bud’s explanation. “So, what are you saying, that—”
    Bud cut her off softly. “I’m saying that the negotiating went something like, Okay, Mr. Governor, we’ll guarantee that the coal comes from McDowell County and guarantee a couple of hundred, good-paying mining jobs to local residents, but you guys have to guarantee that Ackerly Coal will get a surface-mining permit for the piece of land known as Redemption Mountain, ’cause there’s plenty of coal up there and we need to be able to get at it quick and cheap. That’s why surveying crews are running all over this mountain.”
    Bud paused to take a drink of water before continuing. “Sometime before the end of the year, they’re going to come up here and take down all the trees and start blasting the top off this mountain, pushing it into the valleys, filling in all the hollows and covering the streams, and, sure enough, cover this farm under about a hundred feet of rock and sand.” Bud’s voice was soft with helplessness now. “There’s enough coal up here to run that plant for years, good low-sulfur coal, the kind they got to have for their power plant. And it’ll mean a lot of good jobs, and politicians and the union and every out-of-work miner in McDowell County will support the project.”
    â€œBut, Bud,” Sarah protested, “there’s a ban against new mountaintop-removal permits. I remember signing a petition last year for Save the Mountains, remember?”
    Her father-in-law looked at her irritably. “Sarah, you ain’t been listening! A deal’s been made, I’m telling you. They’ll find a way around that injunction, probably