I have seen the bumper stickers and license plates touting the camaraderie of the owner of the vehicle and the black lump of rock, and I have wondered what it means to be a “Friend of Coal?”

I understand that many of the people who display this slogan and emblem use it to show their support for coal miners.

What I don’t understand is how someone can support the biggest source of pollution in the world today as well as a leading cause for cancer, chronic lung, kidney and heart diseases and an industry that has over ten times the number of fatalities than any other trade in the world.

My father grew up in the coal fields of southern West Virginia and several of his family members worked in the mines and were paid in scrip.

When it came to contracting black lung or silicosis, the coal industry fought to prevent workers from claiming disability based on their occupation as miners, most often blaming their illnesses on smoking.

Responsibility has also been denied to the thousands who become ill from the toxic effects of burning and processing coal.

Some use the stickers and plates to show support for the coal industry. Operators have been moving to eliminate jobs and reduce the pay for miners to increase their profit margins.

The number of miners has been in a free fall since the introduction of surface mining and mechanization. One hundred years ago nearly half a million people worked as miners in the coal industry, today there are less than 90,000 in the entire US.

In 2008 the number of jobs in just one renewable energy, wind, surpassed the number of jobs in coal by over 2,000 workers. Coal cannot continue to provide jobs, when the coal runs out, so do the jobs. Wind will be here as long as the planet exists.

With all this rationale, I find it hard to be a “Friend of Coal” or put the sticker with a crooked smile on my car.

Instead I will put a sticker on my car supporting the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC). We are working to bring wind power to Coal River Mountain in West Virginia. www.ohvec.org

Dennis G. Lambert

Ironton