SOUND CHICO - TC 00:39
My name is Rodney Branham but everybody just calls me Chico. I started mining when I was sixteen years old I was just a boy or a baby most people would say. Mining is not our job, it's our life, I mean it's such... In Eastern Kentucky, this is what we've got, all we've got. There's nothing else. I wish there was something else. Six day a week, that's what we work. Man, it's hard. It's hard on the body, it's hard on the soul.
COM
It's six fifteen. The sun rises over the Appalachians mountains. It's the start of a new day for Chico.
He works on this small mining site, located in one of the oldest mining areas in the world.
He's 47 years old. His father, his grandfather, his great grandfather were miners. He's a proud inheritor of America's long history of coal.
In Chico - TC 1:57
Hey guys, how you doing?
How you doing?
I'm doing pretty good.
COM
It's a ritual: morning coffee is shared with colleagues while the boss gives instructions.
IN Boss - TC 2:06
What we need to do is just go ahead and dig all the way. We clean the road down and flatten the coal until all is flat.
COM
Exploiting this mine only requires around 10 workers.
Year after year, coal mining has become mechanized and jobs are rare.
SOUND CHICO - TC 2:40
I'm gonna be running the grader. I'm gonna trash out the road so we can drive on it. Just whatever has to be done, I do it everyday. It's what's required. I think it does a lot for the country here. A lot of people disagree, but I don't. I mean, they use it to make steel, they use it to power. It just got numerous uses.
COM
In the United States, coal still provides half of the country's electricity.
The whole world, including France, values Appalachian coal, for its high quality.
But it's a more expensive coal, because it has to be extracted from huge mountains.
To keep up with the market, industries use a unique extraction process: dynamiting the top of the mountains, just as these images shot in Kentucky show.
EXPLOSION:
COM
The method was invented in the sixties and has rapidly become the norm.
CHICO - TC 4:12
Coal mining is not such a bad business if you do it right, such as what we are here.
COM
In this mine, the owner has developed innovative ways to limit damage caused by the explosions. But it remains an exception.
This extraction technique is a delicate topic in Kentucky. Coal industry is the only industry in the area; it is much criticized but pays a lot. Chico earns almost 4000 dollars a month.
CHICO IN A TRUCK - TC 4:44
When I was sixteen years old I was working for 3 dollars and 15 cents an hour, and I had an opportunity to make 16 dollars an hour in the coal business, working for my uncle. Ans I needed money, and I jumped at that opportunity and took it. I raised 5 children in the coal business. If it weren't for this job here, I guess I'd be a beggar on the street.
SOUND DECRYPTEUR - TC 5:18
The mountain top removing didn't received a lot of international media attention because it's not a glamourous issue. You know, it's something that affects the lives of rural poor people. Ans in many ways, coal has enabled some Appalachians families to rise out of poverty and to enter the middle class. There is an emotionnal tie there, that's really hard to sever.
COM
Coal industry is extremely powerful but it's facing a growing lobby.
In radio
Susan Lapis works for an NGO campaigning for the Appalachian protection.
IN LAPIS - TC 6:21
And you're in the air !
COM
From the trail, the largest in the United States, three hundred fifty millions of tons of coal are extracted each year.
SOUND SUSAN LAPIS - TC 6:31
Every year, there's a little bit less mountain, and a little bit more wasteland. It's a big business for them, it's a big money maker. And they just go down the mountain, seam of coal by seam of coal by seam of coal. Until it just goes flat. Truth is is that before they mine, this is where the most biodiverse eco system on earth is. And I would be very much in favor of the law against it because there are other ways to make electricity that are much more land and earth friendly.
COM
Among these damages, the most threatening to Susan, is water pollution.
IN - TC 7:12
Now here you can see water that has a weird color and that's not the natural color of water in Kentucky. But what happens is, all the ... mountains, there's a lot of surface area so that when rain water pickles through it, it leaches out all kinds of heavy metals. They get cobalt, copper and cadmium and lead, in the ground water here. That's one of the main things that's a problem with mountain top removal coal mining.
COM
In the Appalachians, people live at the foot of the mountains...
Rooster to keep
In small rural communities, very dependent on their environment... and weakened by coal industry.
Rick Handshoe compares it to a cancer that has attacked his valley.
Convinced that the water around his house had been contaminated with heavy metals from the surrounding mines... He had it analyzed.
The results are alarming.
SOUND RICK - TC 8:21
The water running here is over the limit in arsenic, berelium, high level of manganese, aluminium. The pH is really low here, it's acid, ans the conductivity is around 5000 microsiemens.
Anything above 500 microsiemens is considered so polluted, it cannot be repaired.
This used to have fish in it. It used to have salamanders, frogs. They're all dead. It's going into our ground where we're raising our vegetables, we're eating poisoned vegetables. This place just can't sustain life anymore. It's killed to whole food scale.
COM
The government refused to give the results to Rick. He got them through his connections.
The mine hasn't been investigated.
But he, had to leave his house as an emergency, in order to protect his and his family's health.
A retired police officer, he now lives at his brother's, 4 hours away.
He has left behind all his life savings.
SOUND RICK - TC 9:44
You know, it's not easy to leave your house. My dad's here, my nephews... this is my home. But I've had to leave. I've been ran out by mountain top removal. I sleep here. I did sleep here, in this room. And my daughter slept here, in this room. right on top of this poisoned water. This is acid that's coming from the mine. That's metal, eating house, coming up under the trailer causing health problems.
My system, my body was in shock, I was so poisoned that's what started causing my nails to get this away. The poison tries to get out of your body, it goes to the longest points of your body trying to get out of. That's why there's on the longest fingers of my hands. Two months ago, I thought i was going to loose my fingers. Thank goodness, they're looking better. But, it makes me angry, it makes me sad. Why the governement would allow this to happen to people?
You know, fighting the coal companies is one thing but when you have to fight your governement, that's supposed to be protecting you, it's David and Goliath. You're fighting people that have got billions of dollars, and I've got hundreds of dollars.
DECRYPTEUR MUSIQUE - TC 11:25
In Appalachians, you know, when you stand up and you go against that power structure that's in place, it's almost as if you're betraying your culture, your family, your ancestors. you cna be viewed with suspicion from people in the community. You can be labelled crazy, radical, liberal, an environmentalist, which has become almost a dirty word.
COM
Almost a civil war atmosphere...
After years of impunity, top mountains removal is in Washington's eye.
To get an extraction license has become difficult and costly.
The success of chiste gaz, encouraged by Barak Obama has revealed coal.
So, instead of investing in clean but less profitable methods, companies quit coal... to invest elsewhere.
In Lynch, a mine city build at the beginning of last century... time is standing still.
Music
These last twelve months, three thousands miners were fired in the area. The local economy is desintegretating.
This small shop resists, in the middle of an abandoned landscape.
The owner himself is a former miner, now disabled. He fiercely defends coal.
SOUND OWNER GROCERY - TC 12:56
If they don't back up, I don't know how long we can stay open. We get coal tax from the mines, and when the mines go down, the coal tax drops so the whole county suffers. They give so much to the city, that's what we survive on. It's our life, it's what we always did, it's what we got. The majority of the people is for coal. But you only have just a few people who are against it, not a whole lot, but they fight really hard. We fight just as hard to keep it. And I'll keep on fighting. As long as I can.
COM
Fighting against an industry, that lets people idle, after years of profits.
In Lynch, 20% of the population is now unemployed.
In this very religious part of the United States, church is a real support.
In this church, all parishioners know someone who's lost his job.
Like Frank, suddenly dismissed right before Christmas.
A day he and his coal mates will never forget.
SOUND CHURCH - TC 14:30
Sure it takes a little bit of your pride. You know, it means a whole lot to a man... or anybody ! It makes you feel about this big. When people say "oh you're working", you go say no, you put your head down and say no but you ain't used to that. people are used to see you go to work and come in dirty. It's all your life they just took from you. They give you a form and say "hey, that's it for you, sorry you have no job no more, no issurance". Even your payday, even that is gone.
COM
Frank owns one of these houses, built by coal companies, showing the glorious years of coal industry.
He lives off savings and gets around 1300 dollars in unemployment benefit a month for 6 months.
It's not much for him and the two sons he's been raising on his own for 16 years.
Play TV
SOUNDS FRANK & SONS - TC 15:45
- I can survive right now but it won't take very long before I start sinking
- Very proud. He would break his back every day just to keep going just to make money to feed us and take care of us. I know it's been hard on him, so... yeah, very proud of him
- There's got to be rules and regulations,... because if you didn't the earth properties would be destroyed s it(sz got to be put back ... but how come for all these years that we've been allowed to do it and, you know, everything's been good so far. Within a year, couple year or so they want to keep adding all these extra rules and regulations and it's just after while... we, the people, that's laid off, get aggravated (?) at the companies, but when you look at it, it's the companies get aggravated by these laws and regulations. When it's just like nitpicking.
- It's different. A lot of people don't do as much stuff as they used to do.You cant go a lot of places like we used to because of how hard it is. It's different. For a lot of families I guess it is hard.
- Because you've got 4000 or so people looking for the same jobs, and people around here that are 40 and 50 years old taking jobs that college students need to pay for gas and for school. It's just, around here there's nothing.
COM
Some neighbors have already left, trying to build a new life... elsewhere.
Frank still thinks a recovery is possible. He remains attached to the city... and to the mine, where he spent half of his lifetime.
Years of work remain vivid in his mind and body.
SOUND DIXON - TC 18:07
I've had rods put in the back and i've had rods but in my hand. I've had this hand here broken. I've had this hand here broken twice. It just takes your whole body. But I'll go to work. I need to work. I need to work.
PAUSE
COM
Despite all the signs, local authorities hold on to coal and its controversial methods.
LIVE KEITH HALL
COM
Keith Hall is the senator head of Kentucky energy commission.
In / ambiance
He is also an influent industrialist, the owner of several mines and of a subcontracting company for the coal industry.
IN
COM
This mix of activities is common the area.
Willing to defend coal at any price, he filed a complaint against the Environment Protection Agency.
SOUND KEITH HALL - - TC 18:24
Why do we sue them? We think we've been picked on. We've been specified because we were not Obama people. We didn't vote for Obama, we voted for Hillary. Proudly. I'm a democrat and we are very broad. We have the liberal left, we have the conservative right. But in Kentucky, we're pretty conservative. We're pro family, pro-faith, pro-gun, pro-ten commendments. We're four generations coal miners. We're very conservative, not liberal. We don't believe in crazy tree huger policy. And here's what we think, we think "laissez faire". Let us be, leave us alone. Let us run our own condos and let us run our own governement. In west Kentucky, they're beginning to ship international. They're booming. There more coal mine now in west Kentucky than east Kentucky. First time in history. First time ever. And they're doing it international.
Music
COM
The industry still makes profits.
Companies leave the Appalachians but invest elsewhere... In Illinois, neighbor state to Kentucky.
In this mine in Illinois, coal extraction is underground. In galeries deep beneath the rocks.
It runs at full capacity.
300 workers take turns day and night.
It's the new coal Eldorado in the West of the United States.
Here, methods employed are more respectful of the environment but above all, they're cheaper and more profitable.
SOUND 1 BOSS APPALACHIANS - 21:17
Our costs are exponentially lower than what they can do in the Apalachians, mostly because their conditions are more difficult for them to mine.
Their reserves that they have left are not most easily mined for coal. We have fairly good reserves left where, you know, we mine underground, we have a six foot and a half foot seam, we'll get 70% of our coal out of that. If they min a six and a half seven foot seam, they may get only 35% of that coal.
This is our clean coal pile. This coal is ready to be shipped to our different customers. Over here we have our wash plant. That is where we wash the coal and create a more purified product for our customers.
COM
With a high proportion of sulphur, this coal was long considered too dirty. Snubbed by consumers.
Thanks to technological improvement, this coal is back on international markets, where american coal is booming again.
Production has grown by 20% since August 2012.
The mine attracts young workers again. Like Justin. He's only 34 and supervises a staff of 40 people.
SOUND JUSTIN - TC 22:33
It disappeared for a few years. Pretty much when I was in high school. Mining went away, so I went to school for environemental science and worked in that for a few years. And in that process, mining came back and it looked like a pretty good profession, like it was going to be around for a while again so I jumped back in it. Occasionnally, there are accidents. Anytime you go on that mine, anything can happen. You can get in bad topic and fall, but we've got pretty good conditions here, good lime stone, so that helps out a lot.
COM
Mining remains a dangerous activity: crumbling, toxic gases and dusts.
But for these young people, it often is the only way to work in an area formerly ruined.
SOUND JUSTIN - 23:33
There was a pretty big generational gap in there for a few years. It's pretty prevalent at this mine. There's guys in their 50s or even a few in their early 60s, and then there's not many employees in their fourties, and then you get down to guys my age. Pretty much all the mines in the area shut down. Now that the technology has come around to burn our coal clean, and coal mines in this area are making a pretty strong come-back.
COM
In France, coal is 30% cheaper than natural gas, cheaper than oil. In 5 to 10 coal may be the wolrd's leading energy resource again.
Here, an uninterrupted flow of 600 trucks take turns from morning to night.
They tip their load onto these barges, ready to sail down the Mississippi.
SOUND BOSS - TC 24:32
The Mississippi river is a key to us for transportation because you can move produce effectively on the river, because you don't have as much fiul needed to transport them down with the current, and you can transport more volumes. You can't stay in a rail car or a truck. The other benefit that we have on the Mississippi river is access to New Orleans, which is a major export terminal to move coal onto the export market to the European and Asian markets.
COM
But the flood of this very polluting energy worries the ecologists.
Despite technological progress, coal remains a very controversial source of electricity because of its high emission of carbon dioxide.
The debate doesn't worry this manager.
SOUND BOSS - 25:25
Why would you turn a blind eye on cheap energy for another source? I think it's pretty naive and arrogant for man to feel that they can change the earth's athmosphere that much. In fact, you know, I think it's insane to belive that we have a set climate. Our climate is always changing. Call me a denier or whatever, I don't believe that CO2 is causing us problems in our world.
SOUND DECRYPTEUR - 25:57
The coal industry and politics especially will get out there and say "we support clean coal, clean coal is a reality" when most people who look at the issue know independently that clean coal is a myth. We're all breathing the same air and the effects of coal is something we will all have to live with.
COM
In France, coal represents only 3% of our electricity. But it's growing : + 35% in 2012, despite all the talk of renewable energy.
In a country in such a crisis, where nuclear power is sometimes criticized, its low cost remains a solid argument.
An argument that could weigh in on the debate about the tomorrow's energy.