MARTIN COUNTY INDUSTRY IS ‘GROWING’ FRUIT, BUILDING SOLAR

Aerial photo of solar project at old Martiki Coal Co. in Martin County, courtesy of Adam Edelen. Seven years down and only two to go, he posts on X. (Martiki, originally the work of MAPCO (Mid-America Pipeline Co. of Tulsa, owned the largest (18,000 acres) strip-mine permit east of the Mississippi when it began operations in the early ’70s. About 20 years later, the US Department of Interior, the state and Morehead’s ag dept. pooled some resources and tried to prove mountaintop-removal strip mines, when properly reclaimed & fertilized with manure from a huge chicken house, pig farm and other livestock, could be used to help grow corn, hay and other crops. Nice try. Long term, though, as a local lawyer observed, it was just too expensive — and all those animals just couldn’t provide enough fertilizer to replenish the ravaged land. Looks like, however, it’ll now hold up some trees, shrubs … and solar panels.