The West Virginia Rural Health Research Center has been meeting with members of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University to collaborate on research in the state of West Virginia on the effects of coal mining on public health in rural communities. This past weekend the Duke group traveled to Beckley, West Virginia to tour several sites in the southern WV coalfields with WVRHRC staff. The purpose of the trip was to give the group a general idea of the lay of the land and to get preliminary samples of soil, water, and sediment from various public access points. Duke and WVU will continue to work together to create overlay maps showing where the samples were taken in conjunction with watershed and community data to identify where to do further follow-up community health environmental assessments.