Kamala Harris Suggests Coal Workers Transfer Their Skills to Recovering Abandoned ‘Land Mines’ in West Virginia

Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris gave an exclusive interview to a local television news station in West Virginia.

In the interview, Harris was asked about the state’s coal industry. She reassured West Virginia coal miners that even if their jobs disappear under the Biden administration — and the implication was clear that they would disappear — mine workers could transfer their skills to new industries. She then listed several exciting new careers coal miners could consider. The first of these was, and I quote: “reclaiming abandoned land mines.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Are there really that many abandoned land mines lying around in West Virginia? Enough to make a whole job industry out of minesweeping?” And: “Is it safe to go hiking there?”

Friends, I asked this too. As a West Virginia resident myself, the question is urgent. Admittedly, I have never once encountered a land mine in two decades of living here, but I may have just been lucky (there was that one time the neighbor’s cat left something in our driveway, and my family all stepped in it on the way to church, but I don’t think that counts).

True, various munitions have indeed played a role in West Virginia history. Besides being birthed in the Civil War, the state has seen several mining-related conflicts, the most spectacular of which involved the Logan County sheriff hiring planes to air-bomb striking miners in 1921 (yes, really). At least one unexploded bomb was recovered and used as evidence in the miners’ subsequent trial.

Despite this explosive history, however, there’s no evidence that West Virginia is currently teeming — or has ever teemed — with minefields. There certainly aren’t enough land mines around here to create even one minesweeping job. Frankly, I doubt there are enough to make minesweeping into a decent hobby.

But let’s return to Vice President Harris. According to Politico, she meant to say “abandoned mine lands,” not “abandoned land mines.” Well, okay. We all make mistakes. It’s just that someone familiar with mining terminology, or military terminology — and, you know, a lot of West Virginians are familiar with both — would probably not make that particular mistake.