WATCH: Our Struggle for Kayford Mountain and Reflections on Mining and West Virginia

The mining accident in the coal region of West Virginia is a tragedy. The loss of 25 lives in what amounted to the worst explosion in a mine in the past 25 years, along with the death of four miners who were found this past weekend, is inexcusable. We now know that the mine where this incident occurred was riddled with safety violations that the Massey Coal corporation skirted and ignored.

The explosion and deaths at Upper Big Branch is only an extreme example of everyday life in West Virginia. Throughout the coal region, mining corporations violate environmental regulation, put communities and mine workers in danger, and do all in their power to fight miners' right to organize.

In the summer of 2009, members of Media Mobilizing Project, along with organizations from the Poverty Initiative visited Kayford mountain in West Virginia on a trip hosted by the Direct Action Welfare Group, a local organization. While there, we heard from Larry Gibson, who has spent years defending the mountain his family has lived on for generations from being blown away through strip mining.

In this clip you will hear Larry talk about what the mining industry has cost his family and neighbors, the forceful means mining companies have used to do their business, and the need for all of us to unite in saving Appalachia.

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