End Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
Photo of mountaintop removal mining by Kent Mason
Since the 1970s, the coal industry has blown up more than 500 of the oldest, most biologically rich mountains in America and destroyed more than 2,000 miles of headwater streams. Despite an ongoing citizen movement to end the destruction, and despite the decline in coal, it’s still happening.
Mountaintop removal coal mining is a destructive form of extracting coal in which companies use heavy explosives to blast off hundreds of feet from an ancient mountain ridge to access thin seams of coal below. The massive amounts of dirt and rubble, what the coal industry calls “overburden,” is dumped into adjacent valleys, burying headwater streams.
To meet federal reclamation requirements, the mining sites and “valley fills” are often sprayed with non-native grasses, and gravel ditches are built as so-called restored streams. Many sites don’t meet the requirements, and even if they do, these measures do little to prevent toxic contaminants from poisoning the creeks and streams below.
Mountaintop removal has a devastating impact on the region’s economy, ecology and communities. Appalachian Voices is committed to righting these wrongs and protecting the mountains and communities. For more than a decade, we have worked closely with partner groups and citizens in the region, helping establish and guide The Alliance for Appalachia and building a national movement 100,000+ people strong through ILoveMountains.org.
We remain vigilant in our mission to defend the people and natural resources of the Appalachian region, and will raise a hue-and-cry against any regulatory rollbacks.
Latest News
Acting on Climate: EPA unveils carbon rule for existing power plants
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy unveiled a plan to regulate carbon pollution from existing power plants this morning. In a rousing speech that covered the host of risks, and opportunities, that come with a changing climate, McCarthy called the plan “part of the ongoing story of energy progress in America.”
Virginians demand an impact statement for the Coalfields Expressway
Appalachian Voices, our allies and supporters are standing up against the Coalfields Expressway proposal. Recent hearings have provided a opportunities to reach decision makers, and meetings in Lynchburg and Roanoke are still ahead. Join the chorus demanding a proper environmental study before the Coalfields Expressway, a mountaintop removal project masquerading as a highway, goes any further.
EPA Proposal for Toxic Coal Pollutant Won’t Protect Clean Water
Resources EPA Draft Selenium Standards Selenium in Kentucky…
A Victory in the Battle to Protect Blair Mountain
An order from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will put a section of a mountaintop removal permit near historic Blair Mountain off limits to mining until at least 2018, when the permit comes up for renewal. During a site visit in March, Friends of Blair Mountain documented “significant areas of the battlefield” that were destroyed through logging and construction methods.
Tennessee mountains are at risk, here’s what you can do
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is conducting a public hearing tomorrow on a proposed surface mine in Claiborne County, Tenn. If the permit for the Clear Fork mine is approved, Kopper Glo Fuel, Inc., would discharge its pollution into surrounding creeks that feed the Cumberland River, many of which are already impaired by surface mining. Here’s what you can do.
Counteracting Coal’s Dirty Tricks
Last month, we acted quickly to undermine H.R. 2824, a pro-mountaintop removal bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. While we never expected to prevent the bill from passing the anti-environmental House, our efforts helped to make the perils of mountaintop removal the message of the day.
