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
Groups urge Tenn. governor to veto coal mining bill
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In Celebration of Vickie Terry
Two friends remember the life and legacy of community leader and mountain protector Vickie Terry.
Coal River Mountain is not a dump
Proposed revisions to the Collins Fork Permit do not meet any reclamation standards set forth to restore ecosystems, forests or garner resources for the community.
Review of Mountaintop Removal’s Health Impact Terminated
The Trump administration officially ended a federal study that would have reviewed the human health impacts of living near mountaintop removal coal mining.
Still on hold: Few answers on review of mountaintop removal health impacts
More than a year into the Trump administration, a director for the Office of Surface Mining has yet to be confirmed. And it’s unlikely that Trump’s pro-coal pick will reinstate a review of the human health impacts of mountaintop removal.
Opposition to Proposed Tennessee Mountaintop Removal Mine
Kopper Glo Mining is seeking a second permit to release pollution from its nearly 1,500-acre proposed Claiborne County, Tenn., strip mine into public waterways. Attendees at a public hearing voiced a number of concerns.