( CNN ) -- `` Ninety percent of the people that live in this holler are coal miners or retired coal miners , '' 48-year-old James Dials explains as he winds his pickup through the mountains of southern West Virginia . The rear window of the truck is emblazoned with large decals of a CAT truck , a mountain peak and a bulldozer . He is a proud coal miner . `` As far as I can remember , I never dreamed of being anything else , '' he says . He grew up in tiny Sharples , West Virginia , where he fished for trout , hunted deer and rode motorbikes around Blair Mountain . His extended family still lives here , and he has no intention of leaving . `` If I were to leave here and go to a city , I would be lost trying to do factory work , '' says Dials , the son and grandson of coal miners . `` I 'm not going to say I would n't try , but I probably would n't stay with it . '' But Dials , who loves this quiet , small-town , country life , finds himself in the middle of a loud , high stakes fight between coal companies , politicians , environmentalists and impassioned activists . The debate is over mountaintop coal removal , or MTR . See how contentious the battle for Blair Mountain became . Scott Simonton , a civil and environmental engineer who teaches at Marshall University in Huntington , West Virginia , explains the process of coal companies cutting off the top of a mountain to remove coal : `` They will take hundreds of feet off the top of a mountain to get to a few feet of coal . '' See the impact of mountain top removal from both sides . In 2009 , Lisa Jackson , then the newly appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , placed MTR permits under review so her agency could determine if the projects would pollute area water . `` They need to understand , '' she says , referring to the coal companies , `` yeah you can mine coal , you can give jobs to people , but you ca n't do it at the expense of their lives , their health , their water , their air , that 's too much . '' Since then , nearly all new mountaintop removal permits have been frozen . Poll : Majority oppose mountaintop removal coal mining . The environmental agency 's permit review set off a battle for the future of mountaintop mining in West Virginia : the coal industry and its supporters on one side , environmentalists and people concerned about the health effects of mining on the other . Dials works mainly in mountaintop removal , driving a rock truck and helping rebuild the mountain slopes destroyed by blasting . To him , MTR permits mean more work . No new MTR permits means jobs like his will eventually dry up . Read more about the march on Blair Mountain . West Virginia University public health associate professor Michael Hendryx has been studying the health effects of mining in Appalachia for five years . `` I think it really is the biggest public health problem that West Virginia faces , '' he says . Recent studies he 's published linked `` multiple illnesses and multiple health outcomes that are problematic in mining areas . Higher rates of cancer is one of them . Higher forms of chronic heart disease , heart attacks , and lung disease like ( chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ) , kidney disease , '' he says . `` We have found evidence for all of those . '' But Bill Raney , president of the West Virginia Coal Association and a lobbyist for the coal industry , takes issue with Hendryx 's studies . `` I think what you find is there is a correlation as opposed to a causation and it 's got to be analyzed , '' he says . He believes the studies raise more questions than answers . The answer to this fight in West Virginia might be easier to find if there were other opportunities for men like James Dials . But there are few . `` That 's the only jobs in the area , '' says Dials ' wife , Linda . There are no other jobs in the area for men with his experience and education that would provide his current salary , about $ 65,000 per year . Activists against mountaintop coal removal often say diversifying West Virginia 's economy is a way to increase jobs in the area . But the Dialses believe that is not a short-term solution . `` There are factories everywhere shutting down , '' Linda Dials says . `` What could they put here that would even come remotely close to being what coal and the industry of coal can do for the people of West Virginia ? '' The unemployment rate in West Virginia is 8.5 % . Even if James Dials was willing to move from southern West Virginia -- he 's not -- recent Bureau of Labor Statistics findings say there are nearly five unemployed people for every one job available nationally . Historian Chuck Keeney , an instructor at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College , believes he has the answer . `` They can mine the coal around Blair Mountain and they can get all the coal out without using mountaintop removal , '' he says . Keeney prefers underground mining to mountaintop removal and is a leader in the fight to save Blair Mountain from the mining method . The mountain was the site of a massive coal miner uprising in 1921 , one that eventually allowed the coalfields of southern West Virginia to be unionized . `` They may not make as big a profit ... , '' he says , referring to the coal companies , `` because they will have to hire more miners . '' While underground mining jobs do employ about 25 % more miners than aboveground -- or surface mining -- jobs , not all MTR projects can be carried out by traditional underground mining . Sometimes the coal is too close to the peak to be reached safely that way . But there is a larger trend : Coal jobs in the state are drying up . In the 1940s , about 130,000 men made their living by mining `` black gold . '' Now that number is around 22,000 , according to the U.S. government 's Energy Information Administration . The administration 's projections show that by 2035 , coal production in West Virginia will decrease by 40 % and require thousands fewer miners . Improved technology has led to the decline . So has economics : It 's cheaper and easier to mine in Wyoming , which is now the top coal state , producing 400 million tons a year , four times what 's mined in West Virginia . So what 's a man like James Dials supposed to do ? `` I 've got to work , '' James Dials says . `` That is the bottom line , I have got to work . '' Rob Howell and Dave Timko contributed to this report .
People like Bill Dials say mountaintop removal coal mining preserves jobs . Health researchers worry about the effects of mining ; the EPA has frozen mining permits . Scientists and historians say the mountains should be preserved . ` ` That is the bottom line , I have nowhere to work , '' Dials says .