Communities, Welcome to the Community of McRoberts, Kentucky
“I figure in 10 years this will be a ghost town.” – Lucious Thompson, resident of McRoberts, KY
Friday, October 19th, 2007
After mountaintop removal coal mining started above the community of McRoberts, KY, the community experienced three hundred-year floods in ten days. Local resident Lucious Thompson, a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, describes the devastation this way:
“The good things disappearing are the trees, the wildlife. The streams of water have stopped running. And that’s some of the good parts of life.
“It’s nerve-wracking; you can’t sleep at night like you used to. You can’t enjoy yourself. The coal trucks will run you off the road – they run 24 hours a day. The noise will kill you; the dust will kill you. You can’t keep your house clean because of the dust. They’ll come right down to your back door if you don’t stop them. They will really hurt you.
“Years ago there was wall-to-wall people. Everyone had a job. The way it’s going now, no one’s ever going to have a job in this area. I figure in 10 years this will be a ghost town. Tumbleweeds will be going down the road. This place will never be like it used to be.”
Click here to learn more about McRoberts, KY and the communities that live nearby.
Summary contributed by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. Photo by Builder Levy.
