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Coal Mine Operator Ronnie Bryant Goes Galt[/h]
“My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator…. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County [Alabama].
They can’t pay their mortgage.
They can’t pay their car note.
They can’t feed their families.
They don’t have health insurance.
And as I stand here today, I just … you know … what’s the use?
I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people.
They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year.
We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work.
And my only idea today is to go home.
What’s the use? I don’t know.
I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work.
And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them.
So as I stood against the wall here today, basically
what I’ve decided is not to open the mine.
I’m just quitting.
Thank you.”
