Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

"It's like having a gun held on you with the hammer back and not knowing when the man's gonna pull the trigger."

One of the greatest environmental and human rights catastrophes in American history is underway just southwest of our nation's capital. In the coalfields of Appalachia, individuals, families and entire communities are being driven off their land by flooding, landslides and blasting resulting from mountaintop removal coal mining.

Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Coal companies in Appalachia are increasingly using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require.

Mountaintop removal involves clear cutting native hardwood forests, using dynamite to blast away as much as 600 feet of mountaintop, and then dumping the waste into nearby valleys, often burying streams. While the environmental devastation caused by this practice is obvious, families and communities near these mining sites are forced to contend with continual blasting from mining operations that can take place up to 300 feet from their homes and operate 24 hours a day. Families and communities near mining sites may also suffer from airborne dust and debris, contamination of their drinking water supplies, and flooding from broken slurry impoundments such as the Buffalo Creek disaster which left more than 100 dead and thousands homeless.

In central Appalachian counties, which are among the poorest in the nation, homes are frequently the only asset folks have. Mining operations have damaged hundreds of homes beyond repair and the value of homes near a mountaintop removal sites often decrease by as much as 90%. Worst of all, mountaintop removal is threatening not just the people, forest, and mountains of central Appalachia, but the very culture of the region. Coal companies frequently claim that mountaintop removal is beneficial for the people, economy, and the environment, but the facts just don’t hold up.

Appalachian Voices is helping to end the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining by working with community organizations in coal bearing regions of Appalachia, and organizing a national educational campaign to end the destructive practice of mountain top removal coal mining by gaining support for the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) and Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696). As part of this campaign, we are traveling nationwide to communities to share Appalachian Treasures, a multi-media slide show presentation that depicts the dire situation in Appalachian coalfields and encouraging Americans to help protect Appalachian communities and some of our nation's oldest mountains.

Appalachian Voices is also working to compile scientific, socio-economic, and geographic information on the effects and extent of mountaintop removal and a host of other resources such as a photo gallery of mountaintop removal and the Appalachian mountains and information on where coal from mountaintop removal operations is consumed.