Since January, thousands of coal miners have been laid off in Central Appalachia. We’€™ve heard a lot of opinions about the causes of this decline and what the future holds – from industry leaders, elected officials and even the presidential candidates. But what do those who mined the coal have to say?

Letcher County underground miner Gary Bentley lost his job with Arch Coal in June. Mimi Pickering and Sylvia Ryerson sat down with Bentley in the WMMT studio, just hours before he left home for a new mining job in western Kentucky.