New Blog Raises Awareness About Mountain Top Removal

Denny has a new blog dedicated to putting a stop to the method of coal mining known as mountain top removal in his home state of West Virginia and throughout Appalachia.  Meanwhile, Kristine has issued a challenge to outdoor bloggers to write posts about this destructive practice and aid Denny in his efforts.

My first question when I read the challenge post was whether ending mountain top removal mining would put a lot of coal miners out of work.  I believe in property rights and hesitate to do or say anything that might threaten someone's livelihood.

But a quick Google search turned up a host of websites and articles detailing how destructive mountain top removal is, not only to the environment, but also to the lives of the people who reside in areas where it takes place. 

According to advocates of ending mountain top removal, the practice actually reduces the number of mining jobs.  Mountain top removal damages people's homes, poisons their wells and exposes them to the risk of floods and mudslides.  It helps you pay less for electricity and boosts coal company profits but generally hurts rather than helps the people of coal country.

I don't have time to write much about this or any other subject this week.  But I hope you will take a moment to learn more about the impact of mountain top removal coal mining as I did today.  This is something that doesn't get much coverage in the national media, and it may not be as hot a topic as something like global warming.  But there's a lot of information out there, and Denny's new site is an excellent place to start.

Comments

[Kristine Shreve]

Yay, Matt! I knew you'd come through with a post. As I said on the OBS blog, just because the challenge is this week doesn't mean you have to write a post this week. When your schedule eases up a little, you could do a longer post if you're so inclined.

Given your fact gathering and investigative skills, I'm guessing you could write something pretty powerful.

[Kris]

you have touched on a couple of my concerns in this controversy. living in WV, i don't want to see anything impact our economy for the negative any more than it already is. however, i want a solution that will also have a good impact on our beautiful country. I will certainly have to do some more research into the controversy before addressing it myself. thanks for the good post.

[Denny]

Thanks for the post and the mention!

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