39. Over The Top

At least 1,200 miles of streams in Appalachia have been severely polluted, and 724 miles of streams there have been totally buried under the millions of tons of rubble created by “mountaintop removal” mining.

BACKGROUND

How valuable is watching an extra half hour of television every night? Is it worth sacrificing a mountain? As you read this, mining companies are blowing the tops off the Appalachian Mountains to get coal…to feed the power plants…to supply the electricity we use to power our TVs, appliances, and lights. It sounds unbelievable…but it’s been going strong since the mid-’80s. Coal companies have been given free rein to turn one of the most beautiful, biodiverse ecosystems in the world into “biologically barren moonscapes.” Even parts of the Clean Water Act have been twisted to make “mountaintop removal” easier. The only thing that can stop the coal companies is a loud, sustained public outcry.

DID YOU KNOW

• Mountaintop removal is pretty much just what it sounds like: the tops of mountains are demolished using explosives, so coal mining companies can reach coal seams underneath.
• Whole mountains are completely decapitated, and the waste created by the explosions is pushed into valleys, burying headwater streams that are crucial to the survival of wildlife and to providing drinking water for local people.
• By 2012, it’s projected that 1.4 million acres of mountains and diverse hardwood forests will have been destroyed by mountaintop removal if it continues at its current rate.
• Mountaintop removal endangers more than the natural environment; it threatens nearby communities as well. Mining waste has polluted streams, and nearby residents have suffered repeated flooding. In 2005, three-year-old Jeremy Davidson was crushed to death in his bed by a half-ton boulder that was dislodged at a mountaintop removal operation in Virginia.
• In 2000 in Kentucky, a massive lagoon of liquid coal waste stored at a mountaintop removal operation failed. 306 million gallons of toxic coal sludge inundated streams and rivers. The sludge killed all aquatic life for 75 miles and seriously polluted the land and the drinking water of 27,000 people.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Your Partner: The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC). Since 1987, they’ve been “dedicated to preserving and protecting our natural heritage.” They’re fighting to end mountaintop removal. Get acquainted at ohvec.org
Your Goal: Join with OVEC to stop mountaintop removal, move to end U.S. reliance on coal, and curb global warming.

START SIMPLE

• Find your connection. “People often don’t feel connected to what’s happening here,” says OVEC’s Vivian Stockman, “because they live far away. But the truth is, if they get their electricity from a coal-fired plant, they’re already involved.” Find out how you’re connected. Visit ilovemountains.org/myconnection
• Movie night. Rent or buy Burning the Future or other documentaries. Info: ohvec.org/links/mountaintop_removal/documentaries.html

STEPS FOR SUCCESS

Step 1. Join forces with OVEC. The only way to tackle mountaintop removal is to stand together. Visit OVEC at ohvec.org and sign up for their action alerts. Find out how you can help.

Step 2. Spread the word. Most Americans don’t understand the destructiveness of our dependence on coal—the #1 source of global warming gases in the U.S. Take the time to learn…and to tell your family and friends. Fighting mountaintop removal is also an effective way to mobilize against our coal addiction. For more info on coal, check out energyjustice.net and stopmountaintopremoval.org

Step 3. Support the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Protection Act, introduced in the House of Representatives in May 2007, is necessary to end the national disgrace of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Visit ilovemountains.org/action/write_your_rep to see if your representative is a co-sponsor, and write to ask for their support. Find their e-mail address using the links on the page.