Economic Disparity In West Virginia

Coal is king, it controls the economy, and many states rely on it for electricity. Yet, many families involved in the gathering of coal are experiencing profound economic difficulty. This must be resolved to improve the economic disparity in West Virginia. Many mining families experience this difficulty, due to health risks and job situations. “In just the past twenty years, air pollution from coal plants have shortened the lives of more than half a million Americans.” (Jeff Goddell, 2006). Mining kills even those uninvolved in the production of it. There are a vast amount of environmental sanctions and safety standards in mines, yet most do not follow them correctly. Companies must pay for all of this, yet they want to be able to make profit.

Mining can damage the environment and structures above ground. “The observable biological effects include: (1) depletion of numbers of sensitive, and diversity of all, free swimming and benthic (bottom dwelling) aquatic organisms;(2) loss of spawning gravel for fish; and (3) direct fish mortalities, particularly of natural game (salmon and trout) fish.” (Hester, Harrison, 1994). So much is destroyed by mining. Countless properties and families lose their homes and livelihoods to weakened soil and polluted environment. Miners and their families can develop a variety of health issues from coal dust and chemicals. One such example, is mesothelioma, “Despite many years of clinical research, there is still no effective therapy for malignant mesothelioma; untreated the median survival time is 9 months.” (M. H. Ross and J. Murray) . Asbestos has a wide reach with all who come into contact with it possibly developing illness, not realizing until they develop problems many years into the

This data was found in the food access and mining sets. The researcher used the mining data to find active and abandoned mines in West Virginia and other states to compare. After this, they used data food access data to find areas of low income to compare to mine data. Data for Marshall, Mcdowell, Kanawha, Wyoming, West Virginia.was used for this search. Logan, Oklahoma was included in this. Unfortunately, the data is unable to be compared,because the collection dates and the sample sizes are unknown.If this data would be able to be compared the best way to do this would be with a proportion table. The makers of the food access list poverty as mainly ones in Wyoming, Kanawha,Mcdowell, and Marshall County, West Virginia. Logan has a thirty seven point five percent of poverty. Marshal has sixty six point seven percent. Mcdowell has a hundred percent.Kanawha has forty three percent. Wyoming has twenty eight percent. This shows that mining may be a possible cause or it could be for other reasons for the differing