Links:

Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now (CLEAN)

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Coal Moratorium Now!

 

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Mountaintop Removal Mining and the Environment

The lush forests of central Appalachia are among the most biologically diverse temperate forests on Earth.  World Wildlife Fund says this area is a biodiversity hotspot that, if saved, will go far in protecting the vast variety of life on Earth. A spring jaunt in the woods affirms that these forests provide habitat and breeding grounds for an incredible wealth of plant and animal life, including a melodious array of flitting, colorful neotropical migrant birds.  From the tops of the mountains to the bottom of the hollows, from wide rivers to effluent streams, numerous microclimates provide just the right habitats for thousands of species.

MTR - Provided Courtesy of National Geographic Magazine(Click image for larger version - Image Courtesy of National Geographic Magazine.)

As you learned in Burning the Future: Coal in America, around 1.4 million acres have been slated for Mountaintop Removal, and half of those have already been removed.

It is impossible to calculate the loss of natural ecosystems, productive hardwood forests and buried effluent streams.  It is also impossible to determine losses due to permanent degradation of the land below, when flooding occurs as a result of this process.  But clearly, mountaintop removal mining is an environmental catastrophe of unparalleled significance in American history.

  • iLoveMountains: An excellent, information packed site that gives the details of Mountaintop Removal mining with detailed FAQ.  You can also discover your connection to the mining by finding out where the coal that powers part of your local electric grid comes from.  See the list of links to other organizations fighting Mountaintop removal.
  • Here are some of the latest reports on the Bush Administration's rule proposal that would unleash more mountain top removal (MTR) coal mining on American mountains and nearby communities.  700 Mountains.org
  • Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition: brief flyer describing Mountain Top Removal.  Check out  OVEC’s website for more info on ways you can help stop mountaintop removal. .
  • Stop Mountaintop Removal is informative and has good pictures. 
  • Explanation of how to see MTR sites on Google Earth.
  •  A list of groups fighting MTR.  700 Mountains.org
  • Excellent overview of MTR issue from NASA’s “Earth Observatory” here.  Which says, in part…
    • As part of a settlement of a 1998 lawsuit over a mountaintop removal mine near Blair, West Virginia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to conduct an environmental impact study (EIS) on the cumulative impact of mountaintop removal mining, which it published in 2005. In the roughly 12-million-acre region of eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, western Virginia, and eastern Tennessee where mountaintop removal mining takes place, nearly 7 percent of the land had been or would be disturbed by mountaintop removal mines between 1992-2012. More than 1,200 miles of streams had been degraded by mountaintop removal mining. At least 724 miles of streams were completely buried by valley fills between 1985 and 2001. Permits issued since then will affect thousands of additional acres and hundreds of miles of streams.
  • From the Union of Concerned Scientists.  A detailed expose of the way in which the Bush Administration hijacked the MTR Environmental Impact Statement to streamline the permitting for MTR mines but "science findings are not reflected in conclusions/ recommendations."
  • In these comments on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on MTR which the Bush administration hijacked and distorted, you will find a number of personal testimonials about the effects of MTR. 
  • Below is a list of links to other sites that have a wealth of information about Mountaintop Removal Mining.