Razing Appalachia

Razing Appalachia
Doc • 54 minutes • 2003
DV • Stereo

SYNOPSIS

In the misty folds of the Appalachian mountains lies Pigeonroost hollow, in Blair, West Virginia. With its narrow creek and crawdads, its wild ginseng and raccoons, Pigeonroost looks as it might have a century ago – a woody haven tucked away from the marches of time and technology. But for how long? And at what price? In May 1998, Arch Coal announced it would expand its Dal-Tex strip mine just above the small town of Blair. Had they succeeded, the rock and soil debris from a mountaintop mine stretching five square miles would have buried Pigeonroost hollow and creek. But lifetime residents said too many had been bought out or chased away by the massive mine, and that Arch Coal’s planned expansion was the final threat to their once-tranquil way of life. In the face of blasting and dust caused by mountaintop mining, forty families – where there were once 300 – stayed in Blair. Razing Appalachia is the story of their remarkable fight against the second-largest coal company in America and, unhappily, against the 400 union miners whose jobs were on the line.

The film had its broadcast premiere on the national PBS series Independent Lens in 2003, and in 2005 was selected for the first season of the groundbreaking new series from ITVS, True Stories: Life in the U.S.A, broadcast on more than 30 public television stations internationally.

TRAILER

LINKS

Independent Lens

Bullfrog Films (purchase the DVD)

The United States of Appalachia by Jeff Biggers

A good example of what makes public TV valuable...the product of an individual vision...unlikely to air anywhere else.

– Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker

A competent and even-handed look at yet another frontier where corporate interests are wreaking havoc on U.S. natural resources...Sasha Waters takes care to let all sides be heard, though inevitably most viewers will react strongest to the appalling sight of once-beautiful, now permanently 'decapitated' Appalachian hills.

– Variety

Quietly heartbreaking...

– Mother Jones

Offers an in-depth look at the turbulent history of the region... It is impossible not to get angry at the absence of interest in Washington for bringing jobs, educational opportunities and economic diversity to Appalachia.

– Film Threat

UPDATES

After more than a decade of negotiations and lawsuits, the mountaintop mine above Blair was approved by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2007. In the spring of 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency halted the project, arguing it would bury seven miles of streams. As the New York Times reported in July 2010, the battle over this mine is being closely watched by those on both sides of the issue as a harbinger of the future for mountaintop mining.

“A Battle in Mining Country Pits Coal Against Wind”
– The New York Times, 8/15/2010