The Electricity Fairy

Written by: Nisha Stephens

It’s a weekend full of exciting events and informative culture at Frostburg State University. This weekend was Frostburg’s seventh annual Appalachian Festival, also a part of the yearly Bicentennial celebration. Our very own, Dr. Melissa Boehm, of the Mass Communication department lets the audience know “The Electricity fairy is the first event to kick off the Appalachian festival.” It was located in Compton Hall, room 226. “The Electricity Fairy is a documentary that examines America's national addiction to fossil fuels through the lens of electricity” (Appalshop, 2010). The film is directed by Appalshop filmmaker Tom Hansell as he explores the idea of coal mining in Wise County, Virginia.

The whole premise of the film divides the line between good “clean coal” and bad “polluted” coal. It is explained there are two ways to get coal: One is deep mining (taken from an underground mine), and the other, strip mining (exposing layers of an already open mine, scraping the coal off the top). These forms of mining are the cause of division and also debate in Wise County. The two sorts of group situated in Wise Count Virginia, are ones who believe in the safety of coal mines, and ones who believe that coal mines are not going to ever be safe. The films main speaker, Kathy Selvage, one of the protestors avidly against coal mining, had a lot of opinions on what should be done with coal mines in her hometown.  Kathy states: “Coal is our main base, has been for a long time. People in Appalachia are being ruined by the poverty rate.” Kathy resonates “Clean coal doesn’t make sense; we’re spending billions of dollars to burn coal cleaner. Coal consumes us.”  

On the other side of the argument however, there are testaments that “to be a good American, you have to be a good consumer,” in that case, being supportive of the coal mines and the new factories being built, such as the Dominion coal plant. Dan Genest, another Wise Count resident also said “Coal provides 50% of the world’s energy; we can’t just shut that down.”The video reports that 60,000 acres were strip mined, and land was being cleared to make way for new coal plants to be built. According to The Electricity Fairy, Coal is 80 dollars a ton on the stock market now, a price that has heavily increased since it first became available. So, how does coal mining really affect the residents of Wise County, Virginia?  A Wise County resident said: “Schools are underfunded, and the population is declining.” Another resident said “If we don’t consume enough power in 2015, we will have to start conserving energy.” Kathy Selvage again speaks to us. She seems to believe the “cheapest way is energy efficiency, Virginia could easily do this, and it does not need another coal plant.”

Activists before the end of video were shown blockading the power site. Their signs read “Prosperity before poison.” Is there really such a thing as” clean coal” or environmentally safe coal mines?  One of Kathy Selvages last quotes rang true, “Could we live without clean air, clean water, would we survive?” This is a question the residents of Wise County, Virginia need to ask one another before they build yet another coal mine plant.