In coal mining country, companies are encroaching more and more into old graveyards for the coal underneath. Unfortunately, they’re not the best at keeping track of the bodies they remove from the ground.
Walter Young, a 63-year-old man from Pigeon Creek, West Virginia, told the Associated Press that he went to check on the site of his great-grandmother’s grave one day only to find that the entire cemetery was gone. And upon questioning the coal mining company, no one had any clue where his relative’s grave had been moved.
The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition is trying to prevent the same thing from happening in the future by rewriting a vague law that allows land owners to essentially ignore human remains if they interfere with business. The group also hopes to push coal-mining buffer zones to 300 feet around cemeteries.
[via AP] Photo Credit: jadakatt on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
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Alex Felsinger
Alex is primarily concerned with animal welfare, wildlife conservation, and environmental justice. As a freelance writer in San Francisco, he leads a deliberately simplistic and thrifty lifestyle, yet still can’t help gawking at the newest green gadgets and zero-emission concept cars.
One Response to Coal Mine Forgets Where They Moved Great-Grandma’s Grave
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and again the coal company don give a piece of, let say coal, for the people.