I have diverticulitis. Most of my family have stomach issues because of the water we drank when we were little. Lots of people have gastrointestinal issues in Appalachian coal communities. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I was born in Mullens, West Virginia, and lived in a community called Iroquois in Appalachia. We faced heavy pollution. Our water came from the Sweeney Watershed, which meant we essentially drank acid mine drainage. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
The people I've met through my path in activism, we're trying to bring real people into a leadership role because we are real Americans… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I was born here in West Virginia, though I spent a little time in North Carolina when my step-dad got laid off from the… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
It doesn't bother me to be called a 'hillbilly' because I lived in the hills. I grew up in the hills and the mountains… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
The question we face today is: What are we going to do when the coal is gone? And make no mistake it's going. No… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
But my family is connected to coal. There's hardly anybody in West Virginia that doesn't have a connection to the coal industry. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
The Democratic Party has failed us, because we haven't run the progressive platform we've been promised... That's why people have moved their votes to… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I'm really not a politician: I don't have a political background, though I've been an activist fighting for my community for years. So I… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I've done everything imaginable as a mother and a coal miner's daughter to create a brighter future for our children, and it fell on… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I have diverticulitis. Most of my family have stomach issues because of the water we drank when we were little. Lots of people have… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
I believe our future is in building a 21st-century, clean economy. — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
Joe Manchin has been our secretary of state, he's been our governor and he's been our senator. And through his long terms, we have… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
We tapped into the abandoned mine land fund to pay for pensions, and that money was to clean up the mines, not make up… — Paula Jean Swearengin Copy Share Image
