I headed out to Rep. Rick Boucher’s town hall meeting on health care Tuesday morning with a particular purpose. I left the event with a revised one. Although I’m writing this editorial now, as I intended to do all along, the message has changed somewhat as a result of what I witnessed in the forum at New River Community College in Dublin.

I had hoped to query Boucher that morning about comments he made recently in Bristol, Va., to the Eastern Coal Council, and how they seem inconsistent with his stance on health care. So let me provide the context for these inconsistencies before I comment on the evolution of my writing.

Reporting for the Bristol Herald Courier, Debra McCown cites Boucher in her Aug. 13 article, “Boucher: Coal Profits Supersede Environmental Concerns.” After Boucher dismissed the surface mining fight as being “new [and] led by the more extreme environmental organizations [who] clearly have targeted the Appalachian states […],” he asserted, “I am determined to pursue this and make sure our surface-mining operations can continue in a way that is profitable for the companies and beneficial for our regional economy.”

First, Boucher would do well to examine those “extreme environmental organizations” he chastises, for as my friend and Boucher constituent, Kathy Selvage, commented to me, “Isn’t it nice to know that if you are at odds with surface mining, including MTR [mountaintop removal], you are defined as an extremist?”

Not only is Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, for which Kathy serves as Vice President, comprised of Wise County natives and residents who actively work to end MTR; it relies on supporters like me who don’t live in Wise County but do reside in Boucher’s 9th District and understand the devastating environmental and cultural consequences of MTR.

If Boucher considers me an extreme environmentalist targeting Appalachian states, then so be it; I consider myself a proud native Appalachian fighting to protect the mountains and culture of my home.

As I wrote earlier this year for the New River Voice, Boucher’s words about surface mining being “beneficial for our regional economy” fall flat based on shear numbers. In 2008 only 2,012 miners were employed at surface mines in Southwest Virginia and none were members of the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA). And as a recent report from the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) proves, coal cost Kentucky in 2006 instead of benefiting it.

The report serves as a warning to all states where coal is extracted, but Boucher apparently hasn’t bothered to read it or has chosen to disregard it so he can continue to pander to the coal and utility companies that pad his political pocket. So, at least Boucher was honest when he assured the coal companies that he’d do what was necessary to keep them profitable.

Now, how does all this coal talk relate to health care? Boucher admits in an official statement posted on his Web site, “The status quo is unsustainable. We need to assure affordable access to health care for all Americans. The cost of taking that step will be less than the cost of doing nothing.” And during the town hall meeting, he repeatedly stressed the importance of increasing preventative care. Yet what good is preventative care, or even proper health insurance and access for that matter, when our air and water are full of toxins due to coal-fired power plants?

In May I spoke before a panel of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives in Northern Virginia during the agency’s public comment period on the Endangerment Finding. I pleaded with the panel and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to rule in favor of the Endangerment Finding, which states in part, “The Administrator is proposing to find that the current and projected concentrations of the mix of six key greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

Both the Clean Air Task Force and the American Lung Association highlight coal’s health costs, with the Task Force providing a 2002 report titled, “Children at Risk: How Air Pollution from Power Plants Threatens the Health of America’s Children.” According to the Sierra Club Web site, the burning of coal releases more than 40 percent of the carbon dioxide in the entire United States and 18 percent of all nitrous oxide.

In addition to the adverse health effects of coal-fired power plants, mountaintop removal coalmining has been linked to health issues, as Michael Hendryx of West Virginia University outlined in his 2008 study. He asserts in a Science Daily article, “Those residents [in coalmining areas] are at an increased risk of developing chronic heart, lung and kidney diseases. ”

From the diesel used to fuel the trucks hauling out the coal to the chemicals used to extract and “clean” the coal, toxins are prevalent in these mountain communities, which have a direct impact on the residents living there. According to Hendryx and co-author Melissa Ahern, mortality rates are higher in coal-producing counties as well.

Boucher clearly is engaged in double-speak—spouting off two contradictory messages, depending on the audience—when he speaks about coal and health care. I had hoped to raise this issue with him at the town hall meeting, but as soon as my 7-year-old son and I entered the auditorium, I changed my mind.

The hostility and anger were palpable in the room; and though I don’t normally shy away from confrontation, I do know when to be prudent. My judgment was spot-on that morning as the man sitting behind me proved from the very start of the forum, booing Boucher when he walked onto the stage.

During one of the panel member’s speech, when the audience became overly rude and boisterous, a woman stood up in the middle of the room to ask people to listen and be courteous. Behind me I heard, “Oh, sit down woman and shut up!” When I turned around to look at the man, he would not meet my gaze.

Throughout Boucher’s and the panel’s remarks, the man and his buddy hurled insults and hateful comments repeatedly. Yet demonstrating the ultimate in hypocrisy, he had the nerve to stand and clap when the last panel member to speak, Dr. Glenn Hall, founder of New River Valley Pediatrics, asked the audience to be kind and respectful to each other during the question-and-answer period.

Obviously, I disagree with Boucher on many issues. And quite frankly, his latest remarks to the Eastern Coal Council have infuriated me. As I wrote before and write now again, I believe Boucher has sold his political soul to coal.

However, I prove this assertion with facts, not hateful personal attacks. I did not boo him when he entered the room. I did not yell out in anger at any point. Instead, I marveled over Boucher’s evenhandedness in a volatile situation, his ability to remain calm and emotionally detached when audience members verbally attacked him and interrupted him with outrageous diatribes.

Disagreement and debate can be conducted with civility; that was not the order of the day in the town hall meeting, unfortunately. So, I left Boucher’s meeting without asking my question, but with a higher respect for him, more knowledge about health care reform, and greater disappointment with some of my fellow New River Valley residents.

Theresa Burriss is a concerned citizen and a voter in Virginia’s 9th District.