Laying the Mountains Low
You've heard of mountaintop-removal mining. But have you seen it? This excellent new site from Appalachian Voices takes you to the scene of the crime using video footage, satellite imagery and Google Earth to bring home the immensity of it. Highly, highly recommended.
Of course, if you want to see the destruction in person, you could always sign up for a sightseeing tour. Mountaintop removal sites are apparently a hot destination in "disaster tourism" -- eco-tourism's gritty alter ego. Rev. John Rausch, director of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, leads such forays. And why not? As he told a reporter last year, "You can't introduce people to Appalachia without addressing mountaintop removal. It is so large, so in your face. You can't overlook it."
In the same story, Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, accused environmentalists of "stirring the emotional pot" on the issue. Said Caylor: "To imply that we're flattening Appalachia is so untrue. We're creating level land for Appalachia."
4 Comments:
"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." Isaiah 40:4
I couldn't help but add this. What was it Al Gore said in his movie? Something about a 'nature hike through the Book of Revelations'? I don't think he was talking about the Applachian Trail, but it seems fitting nonetheless.
Some of you will no doubt point out that mountaintop removal was happening in the Clinton-Gore years as well. True, but not like it is today when the coal boom is being led by the White House and the laws governing the practice have been weakened as much as possible. Anyway...
"As long as this life is seen either as a brief moment in an infinite succession of lives or a mere prelude to eternal heaven or hell, the fate of this world can become a matter of relative indifference." -- quoting Stephen Batchelor
Bill Caylor and his kind must be getting a bit scared, if he has to resort to the big lie technique. I don't recall West Virginia or Kentucky native mountaineers pleading for someone to flatten, um, I mean level, their land, or destroy their forests, streams, culture and health and economy in the process.
Keep fighting to abolish mountiantop removal mining. For now, urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor HR 2719, the Clean Water Protection Act, which will help a great deal.
If the pen is mightier than the sword, and a picture is worth a thousand words, our photography of the land and the people will help stop the barbaric practice of MTR. But, if Caylor and his cronies like busting up mountains so much, justice will see that they do the next best thing-- end up in prison making small rocks out of large ones.
Lens Man
this is so much bunk. CWA is being used right now to shut down small scale miners who are not actually doing anything to pollute the water. Judge ruled it is possible they "may" do something to the water. The CWA can already be used to stop little guys that aren't actually putting anything in the water. This is just a smokescreen to get little guys out of the way of the big boys.
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