QUOTES:
The Appalachian Mountains have played a central role in this nation's history, cultural heritage and musical traditions. There is not a musician on this compilation whose music does not owe a substantial debt to those traditions, which debt they freely acknowledge, and hope in some small measure to repay with this album, dedicated as it is to protecting those mountains and preserving those cultural traditions.
Bob Santelli
Executive Director, Grammy Museum
"Mountaintop removal is the most devastating peacetime activity in human history -- in fact, if the destruction to our nation's natural and cultural heritage were being perpetrated by a foreign power, it would be considered an act of war -- because in a very real sense, it is -- it is a war against the Earth. Every week, mountaintop removal coal-mining detonates more explosive force on the land and the communities of Appalachia than the atomic bomb ropped on Hiroshima; to extract the coal that is warming the planet and poisoning the water, air and land. The artists on this musical compilation are dedicated, as I am, to ending this unsustainable, and ultimately suicidal practice and to promoting renewable energy alternatives and the green jobs they will create. Won't you please join them."
Woody Harrelson
I saw some reclamation that looked good… I saw some reclamation that theysaid was good, but I didn’t agree with. I said, "well... that looks like a golf course, but that’s the ugliest golf course I’ve ever seen." A bunch of trees do not a forest make. Not these kinds of forests. It’s a question of the biodiversity that’s being lost. If you are person who lives next to one of these mines... if you have a mine within a half a mile of your house… this thing’s gonna be mined for decades. If these are the decades that are the prime of your life, it doesn’t matter if they reclaim. You’re life has turned into hell. If it’s the prime of your life, and the entire contour of the land, the makeup of the forest, and life as you know it get’s completely altered, what you’ve lost is not quantifiable, but profound. You know, I met a coal mining operator that bends over backwards to try to stay within the environmental parameters that have been laid out. And in fact his employees were proud... really proud of their work because they said we’ll go further than we’ll have to. I can really see their frustration for not being seen for what they are trying to do. By the same token, all of that discussion takes place with the premise that mountain top removal is ok to begin with. And that’s the discussion we need to have. It’s really hard.
Kathy Mattea
There is environmental genocide in our mountains. It is happening on a scale that is unfathomable, that is difficult to overstate and scary to try to portray... Is it not genocide when millions of acres of 280 million-year-old mountains in the most biodiverse ecosystem in North America - a forest that seeded our continent after that last ice age and contains genetic material that is beyond any value humans can ascribe it - is completely destroyed, and all the animals therein? If that isn't environmental genocide, then what is it? My hope is this superb documentary will shock Americans and create a surge of urgency that stops the atrocity of mountain top removal coal mining immediately.
Ashley Judd
"Coal Country is incredibly moving, and an important film to see to be a truly informed citizen."
Daryl Hannah
"A balanced, sober look at the reality of coal; both the good news and the bad, and the staggering phenomenon that is mountain top mining. It not only reminds you what it takes to turn your lights on, it'll make sure you remember to turn them off when you leave the room."
Peter Horton, Director
...a must-see for everyone in the United States who uses energy that comes from burning coal
civilianism.com
Coal Country shines the light on one of the darkest human rights and environmental violations overseen by federal and state regulators in our times.
Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post
People who live in the coal fields have been treated as colonial subjects in their own land...."Coal Country" is one more voice in the wilderness, hoping the rest of the country might start to care about Appalachia
Diana Nelson-Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Can a documentary film foment social change?... It seems that Coal Country is the first to truly engage “both sides” in a discussion.
Antrim Caskey, Climate Ground Zero
...tells a compelling story...By focusing on the people, it shows why this issue is so difficult .
Jennifer Mueller, Care2
I sat engrossed in Coal Country....The film stirred something within me.
Jeff Feldman, WV Observer
Remarkably well-balanced...I far prefer this approach to an in your face propaganda piece.
Charlestonian Blog
Coal Country should be required viewing for our nation's elected officials.
Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post
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