Those are the words of a retired miner, explaining why the local mining operation is so important to his community.
Through the 1970s, the United States was one of the world’s top producers of asbestos, which is a set of naturally occurring silicate minerals.
As evidence mounted that exposure to asbestos fibers can be deadly, the federal government began limiting its use in consumer and commercial products.
Demand for asbestos declined, legal liabilities soared, and the last U.S. asbestos mine closed in 2002.
Those jobs have gone overseas, to places such as Russia, China and Kazakhstan, where asbestos mining and production face few restrictions.
They are telling those communities, in effect: The best hope they have, and that their children have, is to be trapped in a dying industry that will poison them.
But those jobs are dispersed around the country, and coal regions face concentrated job losses that can harm families and depress local economies. »
