Who Sees Dead People?

Earlier I wrote about Blair Mountain, West Virginia, its historical importance, and the effort to preserve it. (here & here.)

Recently Jeff Biggers offered an update on the bizarre actions of the West Virginia Historic Preservation Office.

Biggers reports: "On December 30, 2009, the historic Blair Mountain Battlefield was removed from the National Register by the Interim Keeper of the National Register, Carol Shull despite the fact that the WV State Historic Preservation Officer list of land-owning objectors admittedly included TWO DEAD PEOPLE and two life estate holders--all of whom should be disqualified.

Not quite admittedly: In an email inquiry on January 6th, WV SHPO Susan Pierce wrote: 'We cannot confirm or deny that there are no deceased on the SHPO list dated May 21, 2009.'...If the SHPO, whose state mandate is to 'identify, recognize, preserve and protect West Virginia's prehistoric and historic structures and sites,' openly doesn't even know who is an objector on the Blair Mountain list, outside of what she has been told by the coal companies."

Blair Mountain Update

There have been some promising developments in the struggle to protect Blair Mountain and suspend mountaintop mining in the Appalachian Mountains. You can learn more about the historical importance of Blair Mountain by clicking here.

On Tuesday, March 24, Ilovemountains.org reported: "the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would suspend and review permits for two mountaintop removal coal mining operations — and put hundreds more mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold until it can evaluate their impact on our nation’s streams and wetlands."

In addition, the Charleston Gazette's excellent blog, Coal Tattoo reports, "the National Register of Historic Places has approved the long-sought nomination of Blair Mountain, site of the historic coal-mining labor battle in Logan County, W.Va., to the National Register."

There has been some controversy following the announcement. Initially it was reported that West Virginia state government had petitioned to have Blair Mountain removed from the list and federal protection. Since then the West Virginia Division of Culture and History denied that such a petition was filed.

Governor Manchin asserts that the rights of property owners trump historical preservation. I suspect those property owners are either coal operators or those who wish to profit from them.

Rep. Rahall and Rep. Capito support the protection of Blair Mountain. Remaining federal representatives including Senator Byrd and Senator Rockefeller have taken no public position.

More to come.