Abstract
This article discusses the exhaustion of socio-ecological relations in the coalfields of West Virginia. We use the term socio-ecological to signify "the interwoven character and the indispensable unity of social and natural life" (Araghi 2009: 115). In particular we use classic literatures on labor history in the coalfields of central Appalachia and contemporary studies of mountaintop removal to think about phases of socio-ecological relations of the coal industry. We argue for the interrelationality of the social and the ecological in place of conventional eco-M arxist approaches which treat these as relatively independent units. This enables us to situate nature as an active component of capitalist developmental processes. We argue that the exhaustion of socio-ecological relations in the coalfields of West Virginia is an outcome of material practices within the phase of extraction using mountaintop removal, historical changes in the conditions of production in the coalfields, and of new forms of competition from other regions and energy sources. We find that the relative exhaustion of central Appalachian coal is tempered by favorable international markets and a specialization in metallurgical coal.
Highlights
West Virginia has historically been tied to the world-economy through the extraction of coal, which has fed steel mills and provided energy that powers the electricity grid throughout the United States
We argue that the exhaustion of socio-ecological relations in the coalfields of West Virginia is an outcome of material practices within the phase of extraction using mountaintop removal, historical changes in the conditions of production in the coalfields, and of competing regions and energies
Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with coal miners, community members, and environmentalists on the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and the economic changes occurring in southern West Virginia since the 1970s
Summary
West Virginia has historically been tied to the world-economy through the extraction of coal, which has fed steel mills and provided energy that powers the electricity grid throughout the United States. West Virginia's coal dependency has provided jobs and been at the center of struggles for rights among miners, their families and communities. The history of miners' struggles over labor conditions both inside the mines and in coal communities dominates intellectual inquiry into central Appalachia more broadly. A relatively recent shift to mountaintop removal coal mining has replaced this narrative with one of environmental degradation Scott 2010; McNeil 2012). This article seeks to bridge these fields of scholarly
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