CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- American Electric Power is gearing up for another run at getting PATH authorized. PATH is the proposed cross-country power line to take electric power produced in West Virginia to the East Coast. In the process, AEP will cut a 224- mile "PATH" through the forests of West Virginia.

However, recent events reveal that the cost of ever increasing energy consumption isn't just natural disasters; it is also the deaths of the men and women who drill oil and dig coal.

As demand for petroleum products and electricity rise, demand for oil and coal will rise. That demand will lead to more workers in those fields. With more rigs and more mines there will be more accidents, and more deaths. Those of us who use, and especially those of us who overuse, natural resources are culpable in those deaths.

PATH is an acronym for Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline. "PATH" conjures a pleasant walkway through a forest populated with wildlife. In reality, the transmission line will be a clear-cut strip of land bulldozed through forests and across once private land claimed through eminent domain laws, and maintained with chemicals and equipment engineered to stop nature from repairing the scar.

The rationale behind PATH is that demand for electric power on the East Coast in the coming decade will outweigh the amount available. When this happens, there will be brownouts and blackouts along the Eastern Seaboard.

We have little sympathy for the future consequences of people who could fix their problem in the present by reducing their electricity consumption now, and creating a plan for tomorrow that simply requires less power -- especially if those consequences include the death of miners and rig workers. West Virginia has a long and shameful history of prostituting itself for the energy needs of the Eastern Seaboard megalopolis. We have done it with coal. We are beginning to do it with natural gas. Will we once again allow the needs of a distant, power-greedy population that cares little for us to once again mar our landscape and health, all to serve their incontinence?

The argument to provide an electrical band-aid for future gluttony while ignoring the effect these actions will have on the community and the environment smack of the same corporate logic that led to the housing crash, the economic crisis, the Sago and Montcoal mine disasters and the BP Gulf oil fiasco.

In all of these cases, the players involved were aware that serious complications could arise from their actions, but the profit incentives made for adequate blinders. It was as though the people responsible reached for the profits despite the obvious risks, and crossed their fingers that they could figure out a cure if, somehow, disaster struck. They were wrong.

Building PATH probably will not lead to a natural disaster tantamount to the Gulf oil spill, but the cost to the environment is not minimal. PATH will, for example, cross or require new rights-of-way through Harper's Ferry National Park, the Appalachian Trail, and the C&O Canal National Park. This isn't a disaster, but the swath and the 200 foot towers will detract from the natural beauty of those areas and set, or reinforce, a precedent that keeping the lights on in car lots in New Jersey is more important than preserving our nation's historical and natural areas.

The construction and maintenance of the PATH may not be, nor cause, a direct environmental disaster, but the continuing practice of coal mining, mountaintop removal, and valley fill are contributing to the decline of our state's natural beauty, road quality, water quality, health and appeal as a tourist destination.

In a June 22 article on The Charleston Gazette's  Coal Tattoo blog, author Ken Ward Jr. reports that the coal industry contributed $307.3 million to the state of West Virginia through various taxes.

However, Mr. Ward goes on to explain that the state gave the coal industry $174 million in tax credits and subsidies, and an additional $113.7 million was spent by the state "to support units of government that regulate mining and for the repair of the state's coal haul roads."

Taking his figures from a report titled "The Impact of Coal on the West Virginia State Budget," issued by Downstream Strategies and the WV Center on Budget and Policy, Ward reports that the when all is said and done, coal mining actually costs the state of West Virginia nearly $97.5 million dollars a year. Thus, any rationale that suggests PATH is good for West Virginia because it will increase the need for coal and therefore bring more money to the state is, at best, shaky. Additionally, AEP is currently requesting at 17 percent increase in power rates for West Virginia customers. That money will come directly from the pockets of West Virginians to fund the construction of PATH so that folks further east can avoid power outages, instead of practicing conservation.

Proponents of increasing mining will surely offer evidence that the coal industry does indeed provide substantial revenue to West Virginia. There is no argument that coal mining creates jobs and puts food on the tables of West Virginia citizens. But, there is also no denying the human cost of coal mining. Coal mining is a deadly business. Desire for profit seduces some coal companies into neglecting miner safety. The possible human costs of PATH are spelled out in the oil rig explosion and the mine disasters. In order for AEP and the other companies involved with PATH to create more electricity to send along to the East Coast, more coal will have to be mined in West Virginia and other states. When the oil rig in the Gulf exploded, 11 workers lost their lives. Twenty-nine workers died at Montcoal, and 12 miners died at Sago. The more coal we ask our miners to dig, the more oil we ask the rig workers to pump, the more workers we are going to kill.

As nice as it would be to blame the people of  New York and New Jersey for all the problems associated with mining, drilling, and the production of energy, it simply is not possible. Everyone who uses energy produced from oil and coal contributes to the problem, but we can help the entire Eastern Seaboard become more responsible by refusing to support PATH. Stop West Virginia from becoming New Jersey's extension cord. Oppose PATH and those who support it.

Williams teaches philosophy and ethics at Waynesburg University and lives in Kingwood. Lepp is a storyteller and author.