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Ed Shepard, an 87-year-old resident of Welch, West Virginia, sums up part of the problem: "There's no reason for you to come to Welch. This is nothing but a damn ghost town in a welfare county."  It isn’t just the jobs that have gone, according to Shepard “20 years of the best fishing you ever saw. Nowadays, you can fish but you won't catch any trout. It's like the coal mines. It's all gone."

In fact, even illegal immigrants, who tend to flock to places where they will not face problems with immigration authorities, seem to have sworn off areas like McDowell County. 

Even from an environmental standpoint, it would make sense to relax coal mining regulations in places like Welch, West Virginia. The “Population Bomb” that so troubles many environmentalists is a dud in McDowell County. There is plenty of room for growth in those areas of the county which have already had homes built, utilities installed, and roads paved.

One of them, intended to clean up abandoned coal mines, sends millions every year to states that are finished cleaning up their highest-priority sites.