Can you imagine Howard’s Knob blasted in half? Our valley would lose its towering peak, population and jobs, and be covered by a barrage of projectile rock shrapnel.

We in Boone are safe from this threat, because our mountains have no coal in them. Coal miners in West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and other states nearby have been practicing surface mining to get at seams of coal. 

The coal in these states is low-sulfur, the kind required by the ammended 1990 Clean Air Act requiring electric utilities to burn low-sulfur coal in order to reduce pollution.

To get the coal, miners blast off the top 500-1,000 feet of a mountain (hence the name mountaintop removal), according to Harvard Ayers, Appalachian Voices chairman and ASU anthropology professor.

Howard’s Knob is only about 1,200 feet above Boone. If it was mined in this manner, it would be almost even with the valley.

Blasting away mountains for coal has been happening for about 15 to 20 years, but the practice has been accelerating in the last five years, according to Ayers.

Friday night at Rafters, there is a benefit concert featuring local bands Agent Ink, Natural Healing Tribe, Kava, and Big Basement Band. All proceeds go to the Coal River Mountain Watch.

At the concert there will be informational booths hosted by Students Actively Volunteering for the Environment (SAVE) and by the Coal River Mountain Watch. 

“It will be a night of educational entertainment,” said Gideon Alston, concert producer.

In addition to the concert, there will be visiting speakers from West Virginia in Farthing Auditorium next Thursday, April 15. 

Larry Gibson, a citizen whose childhood play areas were destroyed by mountaintop removal,  and Ken Hechler, the WV Secretary of State, will be speaking about the destruction of their homestate.