Mountain Voices: The Socio-Cultural Ramifications of Declines in Coal Mining Employment and Production in the Southwestern Virginia Coalfields

The following study, Mountain Voices, was funded by the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. Its purpose is to allow the people of the southwestern Virginia coalfields—miners and managers, citizens and industry representatives—to speak for themselves about socio-cultural issues related to the vitality or decline of their coal-based economy. Unfortunately, these voices—belonging to those who live daily with the consequences of booms and busts in their economy, and who, as a result, know best their socio-cultural ramifications—are often ignored by both politicians and policymakers alike. This study seeks to, at least partially, remedy that problem by providing the coalfield population a direct line of access to those people who make the decisions affecting the course of their lives.