Feb 17 2009
The Dirt on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining in the Appalacian Mountains
A destructive form of coal mining, mountaintop removal mining, gained a favorable ruling by the federal judges last week! This will allow mining companies to strip up to 90 new mountaintops in the Appalachians without protecting the streams or conducting any environmental reviews! Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, has filed suit for violation of the Clean Water Act!
This form of mining has already destroyed over 1,200 miles of streams and is treatening 1.4 million acres of land. This in turn will poison the streams, upheave the wildlife and increase flooding risks in the area.
In the meantime, Steve Roady, and Earthjustice attorney, has stated that “This fight is not over until mountaintop removal mining is over. We will continue to litigate, and in addition, the new administration must take immediate steps to curb the terrible practice of mountaintop removal mining and undo the mistakes of the past.”
In 2007, during a campaign in Lexington, KY, President Obama acknowledged that we are destroying the mountains due to our dependency on fossil fuels. Now, that he is a position to deter this form of practice, perhaps he’ll take it! I hope so…
~Wind
I love the Lorax! “I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees!”
This is a sad news for our earth! Why do they allow this to happen? Those poor mountains!