It is 8 in the morning in Sylvester. Sounds of small explosives detonating make incessant pop-pop-pop sounds, similar to a miniature machine gun, or a popcorn maker whose speed setting has been cranked to “super-fast.” Occasionally, plumes of rock dust waft their way over the row of rooftops along Coal River Road.

Dense enough to see, resembling early morning mist, the cloud of dust and accompanying noise are just two of the reasons residents in this area say they’re “fed up.”

“Enough is enough. They told us they had planned on blasting the mountain, located directly behind our homes, back in the winter. They said the rocks and dust wouldn’t reach our homes.

As you can see, it most certainly has,” said resident Elizabeth “Punkie” Casto.

Casto is just one of three area residents who expressed their concerns regarding the blasting activities taking place directly behind their homes at Sylvester.

Currently, Massey Energy is in the process of making way for a reported CSX train track to transport coal from its nearby coal processing plant at Elk Run.

In order to accomplish that task, the company needs to alter the terrain, which is why the residents of Sylvester have been bombarded with constant, daily noise.

While many would say the activities are an indicator of a productive, progressive society building infrastructure in the state, Casto and her neighbors argue that the tremors have caused structural damage to their homes – including cracks in their foundations and dents on their roofs.

Casto’s neighbors report that golf-ball sized rocks have made their way across the river that separates their back yards with the face of the mountain, where the blasting and work are taking place.

Casto, a widow who enjoys quilting and proudly displays pictures of her children and grandchildren on the mantles in her home, finds more of her time spent cleaning her back porch and home from the dust that seems to appear, and re-appear, in a matter of hours.

“Just when you think you’ve cleaned it all up, it’s right back. It looks grey on the trees and furniture, but it’s thick and black when you wipe it up,” Casto says, demonstrating with a white paper towel, smeared black.

Neither Massey Energy, nor CSX officials were available for comment at the time of this printing. “This can’t be good for people with allergies or breathing problems, especially in an aging community like ours,” she says.

“I didn’t want them to start the blasting, but now that they are, I just wish they would hurry up and stop.”