Watch the stories of individuals and communities facing a future where their natural heritage is at risk of being blown up
by mountaintop removal coal mining, then take action to help save them!
More than 500 mountains have been destroyed
by mountaintop removal coal mining.
A study in 2009 showed that nearly 1.2 million acres to date had been surface mined for coal, and more than 500 mountains destroyed
by mountaintop removal coal mining.
Makayla Urias, 8, from Pike County, Kentucky holds contaminated water samples taken from her home which is surrounded
by mountaintop removal coal mining.
Gunnoe, a 2009 Goldman Prize recipient, has been actively speaking out for communities affected
by mountaintop removal coal mining, releasing studies about the impact of this destructive practice on local families» health.
It also revealed that more than 500 mountains have been severely impacted or destroyed
by mountaintop removal coal mining.
This action aims to stop the impending destruction of Blair Mountain
by mountaintop removal coal mining, strengthen labor rights, and promote sustainable Appalachian communities.
Roughly 1.2 million acres, including 500 mountains, have been flattened
by mountaintop removal coal mining in the central Appalachian region.
Not exact matches
By now, 500 mountains have been blown up and over 2,000 miles of streams have been buried as a result of
mountaintop removal (MTR)
coal mining.
«These significant alterations are likely to lead to saltier and more perennial streamflows throughout Appalachia, where at least 7 percent of the land has already been disturbed
by mountaintop -
removal mining,» says Nippgen, who notes that
mountaintop removal is not part of Wyoming's
coal industry.
Mountaintop -
removal coal mining causes many streams and rivers in Appalachia to run consistently saltier for up to 80 percent of the year, a new study
by researchers at the University of Wyoming and Duke University finds.
In
mountaintop -
removal mining, underground
coal seams are exposed
by blasting away summits or ridges above them.
Yes, it's true that many major banks invest in companies that engage in the environmentally destructive practice of
mountaintop removal (MTR)
coal mining, whereby the tops of mountains are removed
by explosives to expose thin seams of recoverable
coal.
However, the stark reality is that global emissions have accelerated (Fig. 1) and new efforts are underway to massively expand fossil fuel extraction [7]--[9]
by drilling to increasing ocean depths and into the Arctic, squeezing oil from tar sands and tar shale, hydro - fracking to expand extraction of natural gas, developing exploitation of methane hydrates, and
mining of
coal via
mountaintop removal and mechanized long - wall
mining.
But
coal is not «cheap» for the Appalachian communities destroyed
by mountaintop removal (see appvoices.org), nor for the miners killed or sickened because worker safety would be too costly for
mine owners, nor for the areas made permanently dead from the
mining practices, nor for the children poisoned
by the toxic fumes of even the cleanest - burning
coal plants, not to mention the entire planet, every species, every community, every neighborhood being damaged and degraded
by the global warming
coal burning causes.
Mountaintop removal coal mining has damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of
mountaintops and forests
by 2020.
The 1,200 - acre permit, located on a forested ridge above the town of Appalachia, Virginia, would have had intense impacts on residents already affected
by decades of
mountaintop removal coal mining.
This would be better than pouring more subsidies into
coal, whose use will be limited
by the carbon emissions, and which creates environmental problems in the
mining process (e.g., «
mountaintop removal).
Keep Fighting: The Last Mountain (A Film Review) The Last Mountain, a scathing documentary about
mountaintop removal mining, details the many injustices bestowed
by the
coal industry upon the very people it claims to support.
The Clean Water Protection Act is a bill in the US House of Representatives which will sharply reduce
mountaintop removal coal mining by protecting our headwater streams, where our rivers, like the Mississippi and the Ohio, are born.
On June 8, supporters of the March on Blair Mountain against
mountaintop removal coal mining rallied outside the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, DC, praising EPA for recent actions while skewering,
by name, high - level pro-industry elected officials from Appalachia.
Despite growing a health and human rights crisis, the troubling judicial move comes on the heels of the
coal mining industry's spring ritual of EPA bashing, including a recent pillory of EPA administration chief Lisa Jackson
by big
coal - booster US Rep. Hal Rogers (R - KY), and the insidiously untrue mantra that
mountaintop removal permits «have slowed to a trickle.»
While floor time was dominated
by political supporters of the
coal mining industry, environmental activists Maria Gunnoe and Bo Webb got a chance to represent the real voices of families who have to live with
mountaintop removal coal mining every day.
Mountaintop removal coal mining prevents the region from obtaining economic justice — the EPA can help
by protecting water quality and encouraging sustainable clean energy solutions that take us beyond these destructive
mining practices.»
The EPA decision was supported
by scientific studies on the health and environmental impacts of
mountaintop removal coal mining, some directly informed
by SkyTruth's satellite derived
mountaintop removal footprint data.
Complaints focus on the environmental impacts of
mountaintop removal mining, the projected high costs of carbon capture and storage, the human health dangers of large, rapid releases of carbon dioxide, the global warming risk posed
by small levels leakage over long periods, increases in
coal mining needed to run scrubbers as well as carbon capture and storage systems.
It was a beautiful service filled with hundreds of people who loved and were inspired
by Larry, a long - time fighter of
mountaintop -
removal coal mining and lover of mountains.
The school was next to a
coal processing plant and below a huge sludge impoundment, and in large part surrounded
by massive
mountaintop removal mining sites.
The Last Mountain, a scathing documentary about
mountaintop removal mining, details the many injustices bestowed
by the
coal industry upon the very people it claims to support.
On June 29, Kucinich, Rep. Louise Slaughter, and several others introduced the Appalachian Communities Health Emergency Act (H.R. 5959), a bill that would «place a moratorium on permitting for
mountaintop removal coal mining until health studies are conducted
by the Department of Health and Human Services.»
By 2009,
mountaintop removal coal mining in Central Appalachia had destroyed an estimated 470 mountains and had buried or polluted 2,000 miles of rivers and streams.
Marfork had been virtually destroyed
by mountaintop removal mining, which involves completely blasting off the tops of mountains so that huge machines can mine thin seams of
coal.
Once upon a time, we posted about a provocative essay suggesting that the whole of Kentucky could be powered
by solar installed on former
mountaintop removal coal mines.
The real issues that must be addressed
by our nation's leaders are the disastrous and grave health effects and community impacts of
mountaintop removal mining and the
coal industry's rampant destruction of Appalachian streams.