The air and water pollution caused by this mining practice, which involves deforesting and tearing off mountaintops to get at the coal, is leading to increases in cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, pulmonary disease, and birth defects, his research shows.
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining in which the tops of mountains are literally blasted off to access seams of coal. It takes place in the Appalachian Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth. During mountaintop removal, diverse hardwood forests teeming with life — turtles, bats,…
Mountaintop removal coal mining, often described as “strip mining on steroids,” is an extremely destructive form of mining that is devastating Appalachia.
Mountaintop removal has annihilated more than 500 mountaintops and 2,000 miles of streams — and the Center is working to stop mountaintop removal before it annihilates any more. Through outreach, education, and activism, we’re spreading the word: Don’t let anyone convince you that coal is clean.
Who started mountaintop removal?
For 20 years, coal companies blasted off the mountaintops around the house of Rick Bradford, a retired teacher in Edwight, West Virginia, to excavate thin coal seams buried hundreds of feet deep.
Which energy source is responsible for mountaintop removal mining?
MTR in the United States is most often associated with the extraction of coal in the Appalachian Mountains.
More than 200 congressional allies supported the effort over the years, but it was ultimately unsuccessful due to industry lobbying. The president and federal agencies also have the ability to halt mountaintop removal mining through strict mine permits and strong federal rules.
How does mountaintop removal happen?
How It’s Done. Coal companies first raze an entire mountainside, ripping trees from the ground and clearing brush with huge tractors. This debris is then set ablaze as deep holes are dug for explosives. An explosive is poured into these holes and mountaintops are literally blown apart.
What is the meaning of mountaintop removal?
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining in which the tops of mountains are literally blasted off to access seams of coal. It takes place in the Appalachian Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth.
What are the steps in mountaintop removal mining?
Coal companies first raze an entire mountainside, ripping trees from the ground and clearing brush with huge tractors. This debris is then set ablaze as deep holes are dug for explosives. An explosive is poured into these holes and mountaintops are literally blown apart.
Is mountaintop removal surface?
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining that involves the topographical alteration and/or removal of a summit, hill, or ridge to access buried coal seams.
Is mountaintop removal bad for the environment?
Contaminants from mountaintop removal even poison the drinking water of downstream communities. And this form of mining makes a twofold contribution to climate change: The forests destroyed in the process no longer store carbon, and the burning of the coal that’s mined releases carbon into the atmosphere.
What does mountaintop removal lead to?
Mountaintop removal mining devastates the landscape, turning areas that should be lush with forests and wildlife into barren moonscapes. Huge machines, called “draglines,” push rock and dirt into nearby streams and valleys, forever burying waterways.
What is mountaintop removal and how does it work?
“Mountaintop removal/valley fill is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal. Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.”
What is mountaintop removal mining and why is it so controversial?
The most controversial mines are known as mountaintop removal mines because coal companies literally remove the tops of mountains with dynamite and earth-moving machines, called draglines, in order to reach coal seams.
What does mountaintop removal extract?
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams.
More Answers On Who Is Responsible For Mountaintop Removal
30 CFR § 716.3 – Mountaintop removal. | CFR | US Law | LII / Legal …
The terms of the permit shall be in accordance with the requirements of the Act and the regulations of this part. (2) The terms of a permit for mountaintop removal may be modified by the regulatory authority if it determines that more stringent measures are necessary to prevent or control slides and erosion, prevent damage to natural water …
Mountaintop removal mining – Wikipedia
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams.This process is considered to be safer compared to underground mining because the coal seams are accessed from above instead of underground.
Mountaintop removal – SLUDGE SAFETY
Mountaintop removal operations have become the predominant form of strip mining in this region. Mountaintop removal requires the use of large valley fills for disposal of soil and rock removed from the tops of the mountains to allow access to the coal seams. … The fact remains, however, that Massey Energy, the company responsible for the …
Ending Mountaintop Removal – Center for Biological Diversity
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining in which the tops of mountains are literally blasted off to access seams of coal. It takes place in the Appalachian Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth. During mountaintop removal, diverse hardwood forests teeming with life — turtles, bats, wildflowers, snakes — are …
30 CFR § 785.14 – Mountaintop removal mining. | CFR | US Law | LII …
(a) This section applies to any person who conducts or intends to conduct surface mining activities by mountaintop removal mining. (b) Mountaintop removal mining means surface mining activities, where the mining operation removes an entire coal seam or seams running through the upper fraction of a mountain, ridge, or hill, except as provided for in 30 CFR 824.11(a)(6), by removing …
What Is Mountaintop Removal Mining? | Earthjustice
Mountaintop removal coal mining, often described as “strip mining on steroids,” is an extremely destructive form of mining that is devastating Appalachia. In the past few decades, over 2,000 miles of streams and headwaters that provide drinking water for millions of Americans have been permanently buried and destroyed. An area the size of Delaware has been flattened. Local coal field …
Mountaintop removal – Global Energy Monitor
Apr 30, 2021Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a form of surface mining increasingly being used to replace underground mining to extract coal from the Appalachian Mountain regions of eastern Kentucky, southwest West Virgina, southwest Virginia and eastern Tennessee.The process involves using explosives to remove up to 1,000 vertical feet of rock to reach the coal seams.
Coal Controversy In Appalachia – NASA
Mountaintop removal coal mines have changed the shape, altitude, and ecology of large areas of the Appalachian coalfields. This photograph shows part of the Kayford Mountain Mine in West Virginia on October 22, 2006. [© Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC).] The most controversial mines are known as mountaintop removal …
The 5 Worst Political Lies in Support of Mountaintop Removal
Mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia makes up less than 10 percent of the coal mined in the United States. Given coal’s share of our electricity generation, Appalachian Voices estimates that mountaintop removal coal provides no more than 3.5 percent of the nation’s electricity, and probably a good bit less.
The myth of mountaintop removal mining | Beth Wellington
Aug 19, 2011″Mountain top removal mining is not an issue of jobs v the environment. It is an issue of corporate profits and corrupt politicians v the health and safety of human beings living under MTR sites …
Mountaintop Removal Is Harming Animals, the Environment, and YOU! – One …
Mountaintop removal is a process used by the coal industry to extract, well coal, from the hard to reach inner-sections of mountains. If you have ever seen this process in action, it is just as …
CPR Perspective: Mountaintop Removal – Progressive Reform
Under SMCRA, mountaintop removal may be a legitimate mining technique, but only if it is subject to stringent regulation to protect valley streams and to reclaim mined areas to their approximate original structure and function. One means of protecting valley streams is a 1983 OSM regulation prohibiting coal companies from dumping excess spoil …
Mountaintop Removal is an Economic Injustice – United for a Fair Economy
Mountaintop removal is an all-too-common example of how, when a low-income community and a wealthy corporation go head-to-head, the corporation with the biggest bank account wins almost every time. Just as our tax policies have been designed to favor the wealthy, our environmental policies are too often crafted with little concern for the well …
Mountaintop Removal | Ethical Human Based Research
This is an excerpt of an article that appeared in the spring 2013 special issue on “Thinking Activism” of Trans-Scripts: An Interdisciplinary Online Journal in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a major ethical issue emerging from Appalachia. As an environmental, economic, health, safety, and political issue, this form of mining has sparked much protest …
Mountaintop Removal Mining: Background on Recent Controversies
Mountaintop removal creates an immense quantity of excess spoil, which is typically placed in valley fills on the sides of the former mountains. One consequence is that streams flowing through the valleys are buried. All types of surface and underground coal mining in Appalachia generate excess spoil fills due to
Mountaintop Removal (film) – Wikipedia
Mountaintop Removal is a 2007 documentary film directed by Michael O’Connell. The film explores how mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia has affected local communities. Filmed over a two-year period, Mountain Top Removal features community advocates, such as Ed Wiley, Larry Gibson, Julia Bonds, Maria Gunnoe, and Mountain Justice Summer volunteers, in their efforts to oppose the …
MountainTop Removal mining (MTR)
MountainTop Removal mining (MTR) Mountaintop Removal mining is a technique used to remove coal that is found in relatively thin layers. The technique is basically to blast the top of the mountain and push the rubble off into the valleys to expose the coal seam, which is then trucked away. Then another round of blasting takes them down to the …
What is Mountaintop Removal? – Mother Jones Community Foundation
Mountaintop removal coal mining, often described as “strip mining on steroids,” is an extremely destructive form of mining that is devastating Appalachia. In the past few decades, over 2,500 miles of headwater streams that provide drinking water for millions of people have been destroyed permanently. An area the size of Delaware has been flattened. Local communities routinely face …
Mountaintop Removal Pros And Cons | APECSEC.org
Pros of Mountaintop Removal. It Provides High Paying Jobs For Communities That Need Them. Mountaintop removal is a skilled mining task, which means that it will pay a relatively high salary. Because many of these mines tend to be in some of the poorest areas of the world, it can provide an economic boost to the local area through the hiring of …
Rainforest Action Network – Fighting for People and Planet
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Mountaintop Removal Worse for Endangered Species Than Initially Thought …
Nov 4, 2021Satellite imagery shows the growth in mountaintop removal mines in the study area between 1985-2015 . The results of this study and the same methods can now be used to improve protections for imperiled species and provide a more rigorous scientific standard for mine permitting practices going forward by representing “best-available science,” the legal standard required under the Endangered …
The Coal Mine Next Door – Human Rights Watch
Mountaintop removal, a form of surface mining, has already leveled or severely impacted 500 mountaintops in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, according to Appalachian Voices, an …
Mountaintop Removal: Farewell to Forests | NRDC
Mountaintop removal is destroying these forests at an alarming rate. EPA estimates that at current rates of deforestation from mountaintop removal, the total forest loss by 2012 would be 1,408,372 …
Mountaintop Removal – United Church of Christ
Mountaintop removal is any method of surface coal mining that removes a mountaintop or ridgeline. Methods of mountaintop removal coal mining include: cross-ridge mining, box-cut method mining, steep slope mining, area mining or mountaintop mining. It is a form of extracting coal that uses heavy explosives to remove hundreds of vertical feet of …
Mountaintop Removal Threatens Our Water | NRDC
Mountaintop Removal Threatens Our Water. January 11, 2010 Rob Perks. Coal companies like Massey Energy continue to violate federal and state water quality laws — to the tune of over 12,000 …
Ending Mountaintop Removal – Center for Biological Diversity
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining in which the tops of mountains are literally blasted off to access seams of coal. It takes place in the Appalachian Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth. During mountaintop removal, diverse hardwood forests teeming with life — turtles, bats, wildflowers, snakes — are …
Mountaintop Removal – Think Global Green
Mountaintop removal has become an increasingly contentious issue over the past several years, particularly in the southern United States. … The EPA and other departments responsible for clean water laws will now subject all applications for mountaintop-mining permits – routinely fast-tracked for the last few years – to rigorous, case-by …
Mountaintop removal – Global Energy Monitor
Mountaintop removal. Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a form of surface mining increasingly being used to replace underground mining to extract coal from the Appalachian Mountain regions of eastern Kentucky, southwest West Virgina, southwest Virginia and eastern Tennessee. The process involves using explosives to remove up to 1,000 vertical …
Mountaintop Mining Research | US EPA
Mountaintop mining is a practice where the tops of mountains are removed, allowing for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require. Mountaintop mining can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at the buried seams of coal. The earth from …
States aim to end mountaintop removal – iLoveMountains.org
States aim to end mountaintop removal. Mountaintop removal coal mining is responsible for the burial of almost 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams, the leveling of over 500 Appalachian mountaintops, and the ecological devastation of over 800 square miles of one of the most bio-diverse regions of our planet. But in most states where mountaintop …
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