EDITORIAL: Indiana Hechler and the Last Crusade
Politicos in both parties will tell you that Ken Hechler is the master of political timing. When he served West Virginia for sixteen years as Secretary of State, he knew just how long to wait between political initiatives: not too soon as to annoy the public or press, not too long to be forgotten and irrelevant.
Like the Chinese, Hechler always seemed to have a longterm strategy. He knew he was going to be around later, so he never seemed impatient, even as he stressed each of his crusades with great urgency.
For the past fifty years, there have been many crusades for Hechler: the Civil Rights movement with Dr. King, the fight for help for Black Lung victims, the exploration of outer space through NASA, and now the eradication of mountaintop removal as a mining process in West Virginia.
The truth is that, except for those who work in that disastrous environmental process, few West Virginians are enthusiastic about it. Unlike traditional strip mining, which can include effective reclamation processes to restore the earth after the mining is over, mountaintop removal is an enduring horror. Not only does a mountaintop mining site look like a moonscape during the mining itself, but afterwards, the land is so messed up that little other than the thinnest of grasses can grow back. It is a permanent altering of the landscape.
The environmental movement--and Ken Hechler, for that matter--is not always correct. Passionate in their love of Mother Earth, they have not always factored in the human beings who are indeed part of our environment in West Virginia. Those human beings need jobs, a means to support their families.
However, that doesn't mean that the state as a whole has to approve of every devastating process in the name of jobs. We can encourage other kinds of coal mining, other kinds of work to grow in those southern counties where mountaintop removal currently rears its ugly head.
If West Virginians want to take a last stand with Ken Hechler and all that he has stood for over the years, his candidacy for U.S. Senate this year gives a perfect opportunity to do just that. Agree with Hechler or not on some of his other campaigns and crusades, he's right on this one.
Interestingly, Hechler must know something we don't from internal polls, because his rhetoric has gained more confidence in this last week before the primary special election vote. For example, he recently stated that his "first act" as a U.S. Senator will be to introduce legislation to ban mountaintop removal. This sounds like a man who thinks he just might pull this thing off.
It's time we let the world know that, while West Virginians support the coal industry in general, we agree with Ken Hechler and draw the line at mountaintop removal.
The primary special election for U.S. Senate will be held this Saturday, August 28th statewide.