The Decline of an Industry and a People

McKean, James

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117859 Copy

Description

Title

The Decline of an Industry and a People

Author(s)

McKean, James

Issue Date

2023

Keyword(s)

• coal industry
• economic impacts
• West Virginia
• 2005-2015

Geographic Coverage

• West Virginia
• United States

Abstract

Not many people are familiar with the history of the coal industry or the people of West Virginia henceforth referred to by the abbreviation WV. While they may know about the ecological impacts of fossil fuels like coal. They do not understand the historical impact, the cultural impact present in communities such as the southern coalfields of WV, and the economic impacts. The purpose of this research is to act as a stepping stone for future research into the coal industry on a multitude of levels such as those previously mentioned. Thus this research not only seeks to be a stepping stone for others but to enlighten those in academia to the impacts of coal mining as a driving force or a killing force where applicable. I seek to answer to what degree the coal industry has or has not been changing in WV and the impacts present in the timeframe of 2005-2015. I selected this decade as it was the most complete as far as data sets are concerned and the most modern. I hypothesize that there has been a denigration of the coal industry as well as the culture of West Virginia in the aforementioned decade. For the quantitative I used official data provided by the WV Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training and compiled them into a data set for ease of use and for implementation of graphs found at the end of the research paper as well as EIA data for more generalized data in the US. I also used historical research in order to inform the reader of the history of the union struggles in WV coal. Finally, I used several studies conducted on bargaining power as well as social capital to explore the cultural effects that coal has had on the culture of WV.

Publisher

self

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

Brookens Library

Copyright and License Information

James McKean, 2023

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