And Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg county,
“Down by the Green River, where Paradise lay.
“Well I’m sorry, my son, but you’re too late in askin’.
“Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.”
Western Kentuckians love to sing this refrain from John Prine’s Paradise as much as Rocky Top thrills Tennesseans. But I can’t believe we’re still hearing the essence of this song — coal wealth leaving Kentucky — especially from educated people.
The Aug. 29 editorial stated this in two places: “Kentucky’s abundant natural resources have long been mined to produce wealth in other states” and an “out-of-state company will mine coal and take the profits.”
Why are only coal companies accused of hauling away the wealth? How is coal different from Ford, IBM, Lexmark, UPS, Toyota, Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Kroger and a host of multistate corporations operating in Kentucky? Even the Herald-Leader is owned by The McClatchy Company, an out-of-state corporation.
Coal provides numerous economic positives. We directly employ more than 15,000 coal miners, who make an average annual wage of $48,000. With a 4-to-1 multiplier, or trickle down effect, coal is responsible for 60,000 more jobs.
We export about 70 percent of our coal production to other states, bringing into Kentucky about $3.5 billion. That’s pretty impressive. Where does this money go? About 85 cents on the dollar stays in Kentucky in the form of wages, benefits, operating costs, taxes, royalties and administrative costs.
In addition to normal business taxes, coal companies pay a coal severance tax that provided $230 million to the state and coal counties in 2006.
On top of that, Kentucky has one of the lowest electricity rates in the United States — thanks again to coal.
Yes, coal companies do make profits. That’s what keeps the economy rolling in the coalfields. And yes, profits do leave Kentucky, but shareholders across America benefit.
“Coal producing counties” the editorial said, are “among the poorest in the nation.” Yes, a few may be. But how is that coal’s fault? I’ve never understood how a $48,000-a-year job creates poverty. It’s the lack of jobs that creates poverty. What we need is a more diverse economy, especially in the Appalachian coalfields.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are in the golden triangle: Lexington, Louisville and Northern Kentucky. But coal counties aren’t too far off center compared to other parts of Kentucky.
In fact, the jobless rate declined in almost every coal county in July. Coal counties are doing pretty well, considering that they don’t have a diverse economy or much land for development.
We need to quit the blame game. Let’s all work to bring economic diversity into the coalfields.
Article written by Bill Caylor, President of the Kentucky Coal Association
