Morning time at 461 Right Fork Road

461 Right Fork Road

A mountaintop removal site at Kaford Mountain

Kaford Mountain

Kaford Mountain - The Greater Expanse

Mountaintop removal 101:

      Mountaintop removal is a coal mining process in which the top of a mountain is lopped off in order to mine the coal underneath. Traditionally, coal is dug out from beneath the mountain through a process called shaft mining. Mountaintop removal is a cheaper method of extracting coal and is safer for the miners, but it takes a great toll on the environment and the people who live there - mountaintop removal literally reshapes the landscape. Once the top of the mountain is blasted away, the excess rubble, or overburden, is pushed over the side of the mountain and into the valley. This valley fill covers up vital headwaters that empty into larger streams and rivers; the overburden is filled with heavy metals that naturally occur in the rock and pollute these waterways. These waters reach toxic levels in some cases and run orange. Overtime, using these waters for drinking, cooking, etc. is unsafe and can be harmful to the body. From the more than 500 mountaintops that have been removed, over 2,000 miles of headwater streams have been buried. See photo here:

       http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5041.

MTR pollutes the air as well. Coal ash fills the air and falls like a snow that only the Marlboro man would enjoy.

       Possibly the most dangerous aspect of MTR are the slurry embankments scattered throughout Appalachia. A slurry embankment is a dug out portion of land that is filled with the toxic sludge that results from MTR. These slurry deposits are left to seep into the ground and have even been known to burst, flooding small towns and taking lives.

       The coal companies are responsible for mountaintop reclamation — seeding trees and caring for them for a given number of years depending on the amount of rainfall — but often corners are cut due to the high cost of reclamation and maintenance. In some cases it may be cheaper for the coal companies to pay a fine than to actually follow the law.

       Coal companies own Appalachia. They own the land. They own the government. They have a lobbying force that few are up to challenge. It is a sad state of affairs when one of the mountains on the West Virginia state quarter is scheduled to be removed. Until greed and graft are replaced by responsible business, it is our responsibility to remain educated and not to turn a blind eye to this domestic war. The coal companies practice 'good business.' It is our job to make sure they practice responsible business.