WVU faculty member has disclosed his position on coal.
By Bill Bissett
West Virginia University psychologist Michael Hendryx is a busy person. He conducted research that attempts to connect the mining of coal in Appalachia to health risks facing the people who live in these areas. His final report can be found here.
Thus far, his research has received a great deal of media coverage, and Hendryx seems to be touted as an expert wherever he goes. While we have never actually met, I learned of Hendryx and his research when he testified before the Kentucky House Health & Welfare Committee during our recent legislative session in Frankfort. Bolstered by representatives of the attendance of the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, an environmental activist group, Hendryx talked with great certainty about the harmful effects of coal mining on Appalachia. As the president of the Kentucky Coal Association, I was asked to respond to Hendryx’s claims and defend coal.
According to his biography, Hendryx is the director of the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center in the Institute of Health Policy Research in the Department of Community Medicine at WVU. Having a background in higher education myself, I want to mention that “institutes” in academia sprout like weeds in colleges and universities, so always be cautious of wordy titles of groups on campus.
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