Jeff Biggers to talk Eagle Creek mining at Equality

Jeff Biggers's near constant touring since the release of his book "Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland" brings him to Equality's Ohio River Visitor Center 2 p.m. Sunday.

The book tells the story of coal miners, coal mining towns, of mining companies and their effects on a community with a concentration on Eagle Creek, a once-lively community turned into a strip-mined wasteland.

"I've been in almost 25 states talking about Eagle Creek. Eagle Creek is definitely on the national map now," Biggers said in a telephone interview  Friday from his home in Macomb.

Biggers discusses the history of Eagle Creek, its people skilled in woodslore who fought against slavery and who believed they were doing good work in mining coal. Only the coal mines spelled the end of the community. Those who refused to sell out to the mining company saw the land change around them, their wells destroyed and some even found holes in their walls due to the rock being blasted.

Biggers sees Eagle Creek as a national story and as a significant part of a nation's history.

Biggers said his tour has provided him with proof that not only is Eagle Creek's story important to the nation, but that Southern Illinois are everywhere and consider their heritage important to them.

"I'll never forget doing a reading in San Franciso when someone came up to me from Eldorado. Everywhere I've done a reading someone has come up from Southern Illinois," Biggers said.

"The book was a way for some people to connect to their history and heritage."

Though Biggers is opposed to the practices of big coal company owners putting profit over sustainability and being far removed from the communities their mines alter, he is finding himself in the role of advocate for coal miners.

His speech in Equality is called "Let Us Now Praise the Coal Miner."

"The book made me more of an advocate on workplace safety for coal miners," Biggers said.

"I'm someone who is a great supporter of the coal miner while I'm against coal mining and its effect on community."

Biggers is disturbed by the attention given to coal mining and miner safety by the media following any mining disaster while very little attention is given to it at other times.

But every day coal miners die from black lung and 10,000 have died in the last decade, Biggers said.

"We have an incredible history of 100 years of trying to hold big coal companies responsible for workplace conditions. We've been fighting for literally a century. Things like methane gas explosions are nothing new," Biggers said.

Biggers expects coal controversies to widen in Southern Illinois as more coal production is in the works. He expects Southern Illinois to be a ground zero in the nation.

"It's definitely going to be a tense next few years here," Biggers said.

Biggers believes that since millions of dollars worth of coal has been produced in Saline County, the county should not suffer unemployment and lack of health care.

"It should be the richest county in Illinois," Biggers said.

He hopes one day Saline County and other towns in Illinois can be at the center of a booming industry based around sustainable energy.