Morgan Spurlock Hits the West Virginia Coal Mines for ’30 Days’
June 13, 2008 · Print This Article
Coal has certainly taken a beating lately, reputation-wise. Websites like Coal-is-Dirty.com highlight all of the problems with using coal as an energy source, not the least of which is the astounding amount of pollution it produces – which not only harms the environment, but is a serious health hazard as well. That doesn’t mean that the coal industry is going anywhere for the time being, though. As gas prices rise, a lot of people who are more concerned about their wallets than global warming are wondering why we can’t just increase use of the abundance of coal located right here in the USA. Currently, half of the electricity in the United States is powered by coal.
For his cable television show, 30 Days, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock returned to his home state of West Virginia to explore what it’s really like to be part of the coal industry – specifically, to experience daily life as a coal miner. Watch it below and check out our commentary afterward.
On his first day, Spurlock was overwhelmed by the difficulty of shoveling coal onto a moving belt. Sweating profusely and covered in soot, he commented, “I’d like to think that what I’m shoveling here is powering the electricity for a children’s hospital, but in reality, what I’m shoveling here is probably powering some guy masturbating in front of his computer.”
His trainer on the belt said, “All you need to be a coal miner is a weak mind and a strong back. That’s all you need.” That doesn’t mean it doesn’t take skill, though: there are a million things that can go wrong at any point in the day. Coal mining is definitely hard work, and dangerous work at that: probably not worth the average $65,000 annual salary miners make.
The miners are painfully aware of how much West Virginia and the nation depend upon them. That hasn’t stopped many of them from discouraging their children from working in the mines, though. They want them to go to college instead, and avoid falling into the trap of working in a coal mine. These men are all too aware of the fact that every day, they risk never seeing the outside of the mine again.
With this episode, Spurlock has provided a great opportunity to hear what coal miners really think about the industry as well. One miner commented that it’s about time to start using other sources of energy, and that coal miners aren’t stupid – they just can’t pass up the high pay in an area that doesn’t provide any other opportunities. “You’ve got to do something to raise a family.”
The show raises the important point that coal is destined to be a thing of the past as the world looks toward cleaner sources of energy. Wouldn’t it be great to provide these coal miners with safer jobs that won’t give them cancer or leave their families without a husband and father? Imagine if new, renewable energy industries set up shop in places like West Virginia to give these people a new life – a life without coal. In the meantime, more restrictions need to be in place to protect miners and the environment. It may take a long time, but we can only hope that the future holds better things for these people and the rest of the nation.
30 Days airs on FX Tuesdays at 10pm.
Link [Hulu]
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[...] just quote EarthFirst, because it’s Friday and I’m dying to get out of here: On his first day, Spurlock was [...]
I love 30 Days. The episode on coal was amazing, I just wish he hadn’t just left it hanging that we don’t have any options for getting off coal. An aggressive campaign focused on efficiency and industrial and local solar and wind can get us there in decades, not centuries. The political will hasn’t been there with BushCo. these past years, but I think Obama is going to flip it around and get things going in the right direction.
I am glad they made this episode. I am a mining engineer that works in uranium mines in Colorado and Utah and everyone always talks to me about what the media said and it irritates me because people immediately write it off when in actuality, mining is a rewarding profession. For coal mining it is 80 hours of training and for hard rock it is only 40, so you get plenty of training and that helps you to recognize a potential hazard. I was laughing when he talked about the brass tags because that is exactly the same thing they told me when I first learned about the brass tags. I can’t exactly speak too much for coal mining itself because because I don’t have much experience in working in coal mines, but I will say that people’s perceptions of underground mining is very wrong. I really wish they would have shown the MSHA inspectors there in the episode. That is the Mine Safety and Health Administration under the U.S. Department of Labor. They come every so often and give citations for safety violations which result in some hefty fines. MSHA is really picky about it too, they will pick out just about anything and write a citation for it. So I mean that lady was talking about the government needs to pass more laws to protect miners. Heck MSHA is at some of these coal mines twice a week writing citations making sure these mines are as safe as possible. Also, as soon as new technology comes out to make mines safer MSHA will require that they put it into their mines or else they’ll write them another citation. I think the problem is that people who aren’t in the mining industry just don’t understand and they make so many assumptions that these companies don’t care about these miners. I saw a bill that MSHA wrote for a company because of a fatality. It was over a million dollars and that doesn’t include the legal fees the family filed. Trust me these companies care about their workers, MSHA won’t let them off the hook. The people who are always talking bad about the mining industry are the ones who aren’t a part of it. The only response I can say to that is why don’t you do what Morgan did. Work in a mine for a month. Then, after you do that then if you still feel the same way then you can say what you think. But don’t say things about the industry if you have no idea if they are true or not because what you are doing then is just listening to what the media tells you.
i live in wv and i thought that was purty cool of yall doin that on tv and i plan on workin underground in the mines
I live in Buckhannon WV. Which is ten minutes from Sago. My Future is coal mining. I’ll be working for ICG’s Imperial Mine. Which is about a mile up the road from Sago. A good friend of mine works in Shinston WV for Conslidated Coal,and what he told me is true,”If coal fails steel fails and if steel fails this country fails”. The people who put down coal mining have no clue what its like.