mountaintop removal

Cross-posted from the Institute for Southern Studies.

Living in a community where coal is mined by mountaintop removal can be bad for your health.

That's the finding of a new study conducted by researchers at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. Based on a random telephone survey of residents in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, the study used a health-related measure developed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings appear in the May 2011 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Research has previously found an increase in health disparities in Appalachian coal mining communities. But the new study showed those disparities are especially concentrated where coal is mined via mountaintop removal, where mountain peaks are blasted off using explosives and the waste dumped into valleys below.

Duke Energy is reviewing their position on the mining process of mountaintop removal. An article published June 7, 2010 provides a ray of hope for those concerned about the impacts of this practice. Considering the harm mountaintop removal can cause to the mountain, nearby valleys and streams, and local communities, it is encouraging to see Duke Energy reviewing their position on such a practice. This is a positive step towards protecting the mountains and valleys in North Carolina and beyond.

While I dedicate this to the three gentlemen above, I do hope you'll all pay attention. This song is about beauty, and nature, and mankind's inability to see much farther than the nose on his face. While he frets about imaginary tourists that would turn their cars around in disgust if they spot some distant skinny man-made object, this is occurring:

The issues with coal-fired power plant emissions are well chronicled - increased lung and cardiovascular disease, loss of visibility, and (somewhat importantly) the complete shattering of our global climactic patterns.

Many are also seeing for the first time that extracting coal is as destructive (and socially expensive) as emitting coal. Mountaintop removal and strip mining are decimating the majestic Appalachian Mountains – the oldest mountains on this continent. More than 1 million acres have been blasted away, and shoved recklessly into creek-beds and hollows. 1200+ miles of headwater streams have been buried, poisoning the water for us and those who live down stream.

The ancient hardwood forests of Appalachia (themselves an important carbon sink in our war on CO2) are often shoved aside with the mountain, left to rot and clog our streams without even being commercially harvested. The “rape” of Appalachia, as Senator Webb has called it.

How much coal would be “worth it?”
100 years?
250 years?
500 years?

Hows about a dozen?

Update: Still no word from McIntyre or Etheridge. Please call them and see if we can get them to take a position on the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169.) Thanks!

The Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169) would reverse the Bush Administration’s 2002 decision that the toxic “waste” created by mountaintop removal could be defined as “fill material,” and recklessly dumped into our water ways. This practice has already destroyed over 1200 miles of American headwater streams, and eliminated access to safe, clean potable water for many communities. The CWPA (HR 2169) currently has 107 co-sponsors, and a lot of momentum. But we need more to get out of committee and onto the floor.

We have 5 of 7 Democrats from NC onboard, and we need to know if Bob Etheridge and Mike McIntyre are “wit’ us” or “ginst us” on HR 2169. Please ask.

If you have a moment, please see if your Congressman is a co-sponsor, and take a moment to call Etheridge (202-225-2731) and McIntyre (202-225-2731), politely but forcefully asking that they co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169), and take a stand against mountaintop removal.

A quick report on our NC Dems and mountaintop removal below…

This atrocious news came across my desk a few minutes ago and I'd like to pass it on. It used to be that "conservative" meant being good stewards of the bounty our land had, its beauty and promise, to be able to hand down to our childen and grandchildren. By ample demonstration, the term has been co-opted by a few self-servatives whose greed and lack of concern over the consequences of their actions have soured the taste of the very word in the mouths of a growing majority.

This post is intended to continue to bring to light the problems with current energy production and consumption, and show what one little corner of the world here in western North Carolina is doing to pitch in on a GLOBAL problem of fossil fuel production and consumption.

In Appalachia, we begin by trading nightmarish mountaintop removal coal-mining, for an afternoon breeze...
...

(Cross-posted at the Appalachian Voices blog)

As America awakes to the effects that our energy production and consumption is having on the globe, people are shocked to find out that we do things like blow up 100s of 1000s of acres in our own mountains for a just little bit of coal. One of the most agreed upon tenets among those of us working for sustainable energy policy is that "there is no silver bullet" as far as alternative energy. Another words, it isn't feasible to run everything in the United States off just solar, just wind, or just hydro power. I adhere to this belief. America will need to localize our energy solutions in order to create the sustainable, clean, stable, domestic energy policy that everyone wants and needs.

Larry Gibson welcomes you to Kayford Mountain.

For the people who may hear this...go for a walk in the woods. Be real quiet. And listen. The wilderness will talk to you. And I guarantee you, come to see me and I'll put you on a mountain site and let you go for a walk and NOTHING will talk to you.

Larry Gibson

Welcome to Larry's home in Kayford Mountain, in the heart of the central Appalachians. His ancestors settled here more than 230 years ago. Before there was ever a coal company.