Marsh Fork Elementary: Journey Up Coal River | A Community and Strip Mining
In West Virginia’s Coal River Valley, Marsh Fork Elementary sat downstream from a massive coal slurry impoundment — millions of gallons of mining waste held behind an earthen dam. Parents worried about what would happen if it failed. Students practiced evacuation drills. The story wasn’t abstract environmental policy; it was children attending school in the shadow of extraction.
Source: Aurora Lights (2015) Read More