1. Aerial of Rock
Creek
household,
Showing
showing
traditional
pattern of
Appalachian
field and
forest farming
taken by
Lyntha Eiler
“Poverty, Economic Injustice & Lack of Economic
Vitality”
Central Appalachian Women's Tribunal on Climate Justice
May 10, 2012, Charleston, West Virginia
Betsy Taylor (contact betsyt@vt.edu or http://vt.academia.edu/BetsyTaylor)

2. High school completion rates in
distressed counties in USA (1990)
DISTRESS:
 over 150 % of
US poverty rate
and
 over150 % of
US
unemployment
rate (for past
three years)
 Less than 67 %
of the US per
capita income
OR
 Twice the US
poverty rate and
at least one of
other two
variables.
Educational attainment is % of adults without high school degree:
BROWN = over 63%, RED = over 50%, ORANGE = over 40%

3. 2006–2010 poverty
rates in Appalachian
parts of:
 Kentucky 24.4%
 Tennessee 16.9%
 Virginia 17.5%
 West Virginia 17.4%
2006–2010 US poverty
rates = 13.8%

4. What causes this poverty?
 It is primarily a political economic problem
 the region has abundant natural and human assets for a stable, robust
economy
 From 1870s to 1920s, large corporate networks began to dominate the regional
economy – cartels of timber, coal, railroad industries with interlocking
ownership, membership and big political influence in national legislatures and
courts
 This period was marked by violence, as local elites struggled to find a place in a
regional economy rapidly being absorbed by national & global markets
 This violence was inaccurately stereotyped, in national media, as „primitive‟
violence among „archaic‟ clans– beginning a process of severe cultural
stigmatization of mountain peoples as premodern, unintelligent „savages‟
SOURCES: Cunningham (1987) Apples on the Flood; Hennen (1996) The Americanization of West Virginia ; Lewis (1998) Transforming
the Appalachian Countryside; Pudup et al (1995) Eds., Appalachia in the Making; Salstrom (1994) Appalachia’s Path to Dependency;
Waller (1988) Feud: Hatfields, McCoys and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860-1900

5. Benefits of coal mining
 Proud heritage of skilled workers, doing
dangerous jobs that have been of great
importance in national economy
 Relatively high paying jobs, especially during
periods of high unionization
 Strong social bonds, rich histories, traditions of
mutual support & neighborliness in coal-mining
communities
 Vibrant multicultural, multiracial communities
when industry draws in workers from diverse
ethnic groups and countries

6. Economic macrostructures of 19th c, laid down
development pathway for severe economic
structural injustice in 20-21st centuries
 Massive land grab (1870s – 1920s) by land speculators & coal / timber / railroad/
corporations .
 Steep inequality in land ownership: in coal producing counties 70%-over 90% of
land still is typically owned by outside corporations who pay little in taxes
 Coal industry is tied into global markets which are volatile in demand, supply &
pricing patterns – creating severe boom & bust cycles
 Coal tends towards monopolization & concentration of ownership
 Coal tends towards monolithic regional economies with weak capacity to diversify
when coal does not produce jobs – creating communities dependent on one source
of employment & vulnerable to boom & bust cycles
 Coal industry has tended to be a job shedding industry, with high rates of injury, anti-
unionism & mechanization
SOURCES: Appalachian Land Ownership Task Force (1983) Who Owns Appalachia?; Economic Development
Research Group et al (2007) Sources of Regional Growth in Non-Metro Appalachia; Lockard (1998) Coal: a
memoir and critique; Mannion & McCourt (2002) Trends in Coal Production and the Socio-Economic and
Environmental Cost of the Coal Extraction Industry

7. Trends in Mining Total Productivity
1923-1998 Long term structural
12000
In Millions of Short Tons
trends in US coal
10000
8000
industry
6000
4000
2000
•Steep production increases
1923 1933 1943 1953 1963 1973 1983 1993 1998
YEAR
•Long term declines in
SOURCE: Department of Energy
Energy Inf ormation Administration
Trends in Coal Mining
employment
1928-1998
Working Miners •These data do not support
“jobs vs. environment”
800000
700000
600000
500000
400000
arguments. Coal is not going to
300000
200000
be strong job producer if
100000
0 present trends continue into the
1923 1933 1943 1953 1963 1973 1983 1993 1998
YEAR
future.
SOURCE: Department of Energy
Energy Inf ormation Administration

8. US coal industry tends toward
monopolization
Trends in Coal Mining
1928-1998
Number of Mines
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1923 1933 1943 1953 1963 1973 1983 1993 1998
YEAR
SOURCE: Department of Energy
Energy Inf ormation Administration

9. Recent employment & production trends
in Central Appalachian coal industry
350 75,000
65,000
300
55,000
250
Millions of Short Tons
45,000
Coal Production
DASHED LINE
SOLID LINE
Mining Jobs
200
35,000
150
25,000
100
15,000
50
5,000
0 -5,000

10. Economic inequality linked to political
inequality, domination & divisiveness
 Power relations with powerful national & global corporate players
create tendencies towards cronyism
 Corporate capture of, or influence over, government regulatory
agencies and expert institutions
 Weakening of capacity to build alternative economic pathways or to
plan for time when coal runs out
 Cycles of „power & powerlessness‟ – vibrant social & environmental
justice movements as well as widespread citizen quiescence and
hopelessness
 In 21st century, large-scale coal industry media & public opinion
campaign to stigmatize non-coal development
 In 21st century, lack of social trust & divisions within local
communities
SOURCES: Bell & York (2010) “Community Economic Identity: The Coal Industry and Ideology
Construction in West Virginia.” Rural Sociology. 75(1):111-143; Blee & Billings (2000) The
Road to Poverty; Reid, "Global Adjustments, Throwaway Regions, Appalachian Studies:
Resituating The Kentucky Cycle on the Postmodern Frontier," Journal of Appalachian Studies
(Fall, 1996) 164-181; Reid & Taylor (2002) “Appalachia as a Global Region: Toward Critical
Regionalism and Civic Professionalism” Journal of Appalachian Studies 8 (1):9-32; Smith &
Fisher (2012) Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia

11. Human Development Index: one of most
widely used indicators of human wellbeing
 Developed to integrate social & political health
measures with economic measures
 Used by United Nations for international
comparison re/ “life chances” of individuals
 HDI = combination of
 Income (per capita + inequality + poverty rate)
 Education (literacy + High school & above rates)
 Mortality (general death rate + infant mortality)
Data from:
Elgin Mannion “Education, longevity, income: measuring Kentucky’s
Human Development Index” Appalachian Center, University of
Kentucky 2003

12. Kentucky: human development index
 International norm:
 above .8 HDI= “high” development
 Above .5 HDI= “medium” development
 Below .5 HDI= “low” development
 Below .3 HDI= very bad sign, equivalent to some of the poorest
countries in Africa (such as Niger) & other parts of the Global South
 Kentucky:
 Below .3 HDI= McCreary County
 Below .4 HDI = 10 counties
(McCreary, Wolfe, Elliott, Powell, Letcher, Breathitt, Menifee, Clay,
Bell)
 Below .5 HDI = 43 counties
Data from:
Elgin Mannion “Education, longevity, income: measuring Kentucky’s Human Development Index”
Appalachian Center, University of Kentucky 2003

13. Externalization of costs of coal
mining onto Appalachia
•Market value of coal
does not include the
externalized costs of
coal mining for the land
and people of Central
Appalachia.
•For the US, a recent
study cost the American
public roughly $500
billion annually
SOURCE:
2011 - Epstein, P. et
al, (2011) “Full cost
accounting for the life cycle
of coal” Annals of the New
York Academy of Sciences. Damage from Buffalo Creek Flood, February
1219: 73-98. 26, 1972

14. The wealth of Appalachia
 In the 21st century, resource scarcity, climate
change, ability to relocalize
production, consumption and transportion will be
key features of successful development
 Sustainable, just development will put a high
value on assets that Appalachia has in
abundance:
 Water
 Biodiversity
 Proximity of rural producers to urban populations
 Local knowledge & cultural assets for sustainable, re-localized
economies

15. VERY HUMID REGION
•Only 2 other extensive areas
of USA have greater annual
preciptation
•Clean & abundant water
supply
•Rugged topography & high
annual precipitation have
formed soils which are poor for
industrial style agriculture but
excellent for
horticulture, forestry, small-
scale farming, non-timber
forest products

16. Extraordinary biodiversity

17. Appalachian treasures:
cultural heritage
•Unbroken cultural traditions of
sustainable, local, forest farming
•Ecological knowledge
•Livelihood knowledge & skills
•Union heritage: skills of
organizing, sense of justice, pride
•Cultural attachment to place &
land & social systems of mutual
support [“neighborliness”]
•Powerful tradition of social &
environmental justice movements
•Global citizens
ber of Kentuckians for of women who dig
Three generations the Commonwealth)
ginseng together on Horse
Creek, posing with their seng hoes.

18. incorporates 679 excerpts from original sound recordings and 1,256 photographs from the American Folklife Center's Coal River Folklife Project (1992-99)
documenting traditional uses of the mountains in Southern West Virginia's Big Coal River Valley. Functioning as a de facto commons, the mountains have
supported a way of life that for many generations has entailed hunting, gathering, and subsistence gardening, as well as coal mining and timbering. The
online collection includes extensive interviews on native forest species and the seasonal round of traditional harvesting (including spring greens; summer
berries and fish; and fall nuts, roots such as ginseng, fruits, and game) and documents community cultural events such as storytelling, baptisms in the
river, cemetery customs, and the spring "ramp" feasts using the wild leek native to the region. Interpretive texts outline the
social, historical, economic, environmental, and cultural contexts of community life, while a series of maps and a diagram depicting the seasonal round of
community activities provide special access to collection materials.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cmnshtml/