ms. gunno. >> i'm maria gunno, and i'm from west virginia and i represent the appalachian communities where coal mining impacts are affecting people. thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you again today. i appreciate your obligations and responsibilities in protecting and serving all u.s. citizens. my hope is that you hear the pleas for our lives in southern an appalachia, and it's in the headwars of the pigeon roost creek, the stream and the people of blare and porton are not important to the people in this room, but to me it's a part of our home. you will soon be forced to leave what is the birthplace of your family and your children's birthrights as heirs to your family land. you are forced by destruction to leave the american dream that our forefathers prepared and fought for. why is it acceptable to depopulate the communities and culture, poison our water and air and leave us to die in a post-mining wasteland for temporary jobs in energy? you should ask yourselves, are we

we l now hear from ms. gunno. >> i'm from boon county west virginia and i help to represent the appalachian communities where coal mining -- thank each of you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you again today. i appreciate your obligations and responsibilities in protecting and serving all u.s. citizens. my hope is that you listen and hear the pleas for our lives in southern appalachia where these atrocious mountain top mining -- the stream and the people of flair seem unpossibility to most people in this courtroom. but to me and the people of blair, the stream is a part of our home. when mountain top removal is permitted near your home, you will soon be forced to leave what is the birth place of your family and your children's birth rights as heirs to your family dream. you are forced by destruction to leave the land that our parents fought for. why is it -- leave us to die in a post mining waste land for temporary jobs and energy. you should ask yourselves, are we knowingly and willingly flipping on o

ms. maria gunnoe. your written testimony will appear in the record so i would ask that you keep your testimony under committee rule for-a. our microphones are not automatic. you have to push the button to start. i will also explain how the timing light works. you may begin. thank you for being here. i want to thank you it the committee for the opportunity. i am a senator from west virginia. so disturbing regarding the law that in 1998, we had a real tussle about went down cold. as a commissioner, you said the budget. we lost 400 quality jobs. if you do that particular area, our severance was about $400,000 per quarter. we get down to 72,001 quarter. now, when 20% of your budget is derived from coal tax, it is pretty tough. now in the 14th year we are still not mining coal. there are still when her 32 jobs today in question that would be the service mind. when we talk about the devastation of surface mining, let's look at the plus side. we're in a challenge. we have no flat land. with some of the parcel