CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- I am a coal miner's son. Ken Ward Jr.'s front page story on June 21 headlined, "Jay to Coal: 'Face Reality'' has stuck in my mind. I am glad that Sen. Rockefeller is calling on West Virginians to get realistic about the role and future of coal.
According to the Mormon Church Ellis Island Database, one of the 1,790 passengers on the ship Taormina in August 1913 was a 19-year old carpenter's apprentice named Pietro Capaldini -- my dad. My mother told me he arrived on these shores with 25 cents and a banana in his pockets. But his mind was filled with prospects in America
He knew two expressions -- how to say yes (nod your head up and down), and do that when you hear the word "Work." Later, at a train station he heard, "Work ...West Virginia," and Pietro nodded his head. Work and coal were not dirty four-letter words.
They were words of endeavor and hope.
He met my mom at a boarding house up Crumpler Hollow in McDowell County. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in World War I, and on honorable discharge, was granted a treasured American citizenship.
Later he was able to build a big brick house at the mouth of the hollow. Coal was the way he did it. As a kid, I remember our receiving the United Mine Workers Journal at our home. John L. Lewis was the feisty and erudite union leader for the miners. I read his proclamations in it with awe. I learned mine owners and miners were constantly slugging it out.
Coal enabled my parents to send my brother Pete Jr. and me to college. In Italy the maximum schooling for peasant children was maybe fifth grade. Here in America, the kids of peasant immigrants can quite reasonably aim for college. Imagine that, college.
As Sen. Rockefeller has pointed out, things about coal have changed greatly. Among other things, we are mining more coal in West Virginia than ever and with fewer miners. Concerns about pollution and low-cost electricity flash around us endlessly.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- I am a coal miner's son. Ken Ward Jr.'s front page story on June 21 headlined, "Jay to Coal: 'Face Reality'' has stuck in my mind. I am glad that Sen. Rockefeller is calling on West Virginians to get realistic about the role and future of coal.
According to the Mormon Church Ellis Island Database, one of the 1,790 passengers on the ship Taormina in August 1913 was a 19-year old carpenter's apprentice named Pietro Capaldini -- my dad. My mother told me he arrived on these shores with 25 cents and a banana in his pockets. But his mind was filled with prospects in America
He knew two expressions -- how to say yes (nod your head up and down), and do that when you hear the word "Work." Later, at a train station he heard, "Work ...West Virginia," and Pietro nodded his head. Work and coal were not dirty four-letter words.
They were words of endeavor and hope.
He met my mom at a boarding house up Crumpler Hollow in McDowell County. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in World War I, and on honorable discharge, was granted a treasured American citizenship.
Later he was able to build a big brick house at the mouth of the hollow. Coal was the way he did it. As a kid, I remember our receiving the United Mine Workers Journal at our home. John L. Lewis was the feisty and erudite union leader for the miners. I read his proclamations in it with awe. I learned mine owners and miners were constantly slugging it out.
Coal enabled my parents to send my brother Pete Jr. and me to college. In Italy the maximum schooling for peasant children was maybe fifth grade. Here in America, the kids of peasant immigrants can quite reasonably aim for college. Imagine that, college.
As Sen. Rockefeller has pointed out, things about coal have changed greatly. Among other things, we are mining more coal in West Virginia than ever and with fewer miners. Concerns about pollution and low-cost electricity flash around us endlessly.
Mining companies joined by miner unions are railing against the Environmental Protection Agency. The latest was evident in Ken Ward's story. He cited an EPA ruling that was 20 years in the making -- 20 years.
Lots of money has been spent on PR by the mining industry, on PR trying to sway public opinion.
Ever since I was that kid 80 years ago in McDowell County and persisting now, I keep wondering about how we might have moved ahead more positively as a state and nation if that PR money had been spent on science -- on both how to extract and burn this extraordinary fuel with less pollution and greater efficiency.
It is not too late.
Let's join Sen. Rockefeller in seeking just that on coal -- more science, less bickering. Not only might we more effectively address the competition from Marcellus and other natural gas, but also lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
Coal just might be able to do it. Not by itself. We will have to work together. Coal and work are great four-letter words. They are great if we can keep our eyes, minds and ears on the longer view and if we work together.
Sen. Rockefeller, please keep exhorting us. We all know that this melting pot of peoples called Americans and Mountaineers working together can take on the future more positively than any others on this planet.
Capaldini lives in Barboursville.
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