Mountaintop removal can do more than extract coal, “We have a chance to improve on God’s creation.” claimed Dink Shackleford, the former executive director of the Virginia Mining Association, a trade association that represents Virginia’s coal mining industry.
And thanks the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Some good use has come out of reclaimed mine sites. It's provided a number of West Virginia counties with the flat, buildable space to accommodate two high schools, two "premier" golf courses, a regional jail, a county airport and a 985-acre (3,986,169.5 square meters) complex for the Federal Bureau of Investigation near Clarksburg,.
The intent of SMCRA was to not allow coal companies to walk away from their surface mines and leave them denuded. Stripped mountainsides, the law declared, must be restored to their "approximate original contour" and stabilized with grasses and shrubs, and, if possible, trees. But putting the entire top of a topped-off mountain back together again was an altogether different—and more expensive—matter. So mountaintop mines were given a blanket exemption from this requirement with the understanding that, in lieu of contoured restoration, the resulting plateau could be put to some beneficial public use. Coal boosters claimed the sites would create West Virginia's own Field of Dreams, seeding housing, schools, recreational facilities, and jobs galore. In most cases it didn't work out that way. The most common "use" turned out to be pastureland (in a region ill-suited for livestock production).
"The coal companies have stripped off hundreds of thousands of acres," says Joe Lovett, an attorney for the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, "but they're putting less than one percent of it into productive use."
A study by the Virginia Cooperative Extension found that while reclaimed coal mines are widely discussed as potential development sites, modern reclamation rarely prepares mined areas for building-support purposes. Experience has shown reclaimed lands suitable for building sites will often require more than just a flat surface. Land reclaimed using the conventional practices will often remain subject to rate of post mining settlement that are considered unacceptable by most land developers for many building types-even years after mining. The study cited the construction of the Red Onion Maximum-Security prison built on a reclaimed mine site at the border of Wise and Dickenson Counties VA. The site was reclaimed using conventional procedures by the mining company in the late 1980s. A site investigation conducted in 1994 determined that the site’s subsurface provided insufficient support to allow the prison to be constructed effectively. The cost to prepare the 16-acre prison site for construction was 8 to 9 million dollars.
Are all abandoned mine sites left for ruin? Certainly not, some sites have been utilized for strong economic development for the surrounding communities, but the claims made by surface mining advocates that when the mining is finished development is ready to begin is just not true.
It is hard to imagine that in today’s economic climate private land developers or manufacturing plants are going to invest the money needed to utilize all of these sites.
Nobody in the mid-1970s envisioned the degree of mining-caused devastation seen in Appalachia today. Ideas about mountaintop removal were premised on what was known then: small-scale mountaintop mining.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Coal Creates Jobs and A Strong Economy In Appalachia?
Mountaintop removal is a mining technique designed, from the very start, to take the labor force out of the mining operation. According to the bureau of labor statistics, in the early 1950’s there were between 125,000 and 145,000 miners employed in West Virginia; in 2004 there were just over 16,000. During that time, coal production increased. In addition, the coal-bearing counties of Appalachia are some of the poorest in the nation, despite the fact that some of the greatest wealth is being extracted from them.
The US Department of Labor’s forecast report on the mining industry states that while the U.S. and world economies will continue to demand larger quantities of the raw materials produced by mining, the increased output will be able to be met by new technologies and new extraction techniques that increase productivity and require FEWER WORKERS. Productivity in coal mining has increased with advances in longwall and surface mining (mountain top removal) requiring FEWER WORKERS. Most mining machines and control rooms are now automatic or computer-controlled, requiring FEWER, IF ANY, HUMAN OPERATORS. The report estimates that 80% of mining establishments in rural areas employ fewer than 20 workers.
A profile report on the coal industry completed by Research and Markets holds that the mining industry has become highly automated with average annual revenue per employee at $300,000.
The fourth largest coal company in the US, Massey Energy, disclosed in their 2008 Full Year Operating Report, coal revenues of 2.6 billion with a net income of 56.2 million. Forbes Magazine reported that CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship received $9, 929,125.00 in total compensation for 2007 and Baxter Phillips, President of Massey Energy, received $2,419,213.
To put this in perspective, the median income in West Virginia is $37,060 with the US Census Bureau reporting that in 2008, Appalachia is now home to 13.3 million people living in poverty.
West Virginia and the rest of the Appalachia region deserve better. Better from their government and better from the coal companies.
US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Massey Energy Annual Report
US Census Bureau
Forbes Magazine
The US Department of Labor’s forecast report on the mining industry states that while the U.S. and world economies will continue to demand larger quantities of the raw materials produced by mining, the increased output will be able to be met by new technologies and new extraction techniques that increase productivity and require FEWER WORKERS. Productivity in coal mining has increased with advances in longwall and surface mining (mountain top removal) requiring FEWER WORKERS. Most mining machines and control rooms are now automatic or computer-controlled, requiring FEWER, IF ANY, HUMAN OPERATORS. The report estimates that 80% of mining establishments in rural areas employ fewer than 20 workers.
A profile report on the coal industry completed by Research and Markets holds that the mining industry has become highly automated with average annual revenue per employee at $300,000.
The fourth largest coal company in the US, Massey Energy, disclosed in their 2008 Full Year Operating Report, coal revenues of 2.6 billion with a net income of 56.2 million. Forbes Magazine reported that CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship received $9, 929,125.00 in total compensation for 2007 and Baxter Phillips, President of Massey Energy, received $2,419,213.
To put this in perspective, the median income in West Virginia is $37,060 with the US Census Bureau reporting that in 2008, Appalachia is now home to 13.3 million people living in poverty.
West Virginia and the rest of the Appalachia region deserve better. Better from their government and better from the coal companies.
US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Massey Energy Annual Report
US Census Bureau
Forbes Magazine
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Breaking News! Clean Water Protection Act
The Clean Water Protection Act — which would stop the dumping of waste from mountaintop removal into our streams in Appalachia — has being reintroduced today, March 4th.
For a list of current co-sponsors or to prompt your member of Congress visit http://www.theallianceforappalachia.org/cwpa-cosponsors/ Or
http://www.ilovemountains.org/action/write_your_rep/
"The Clean Water Protection Act is the first broad Congressional initiative aimed at reversing the Bush Administration's eight year effort to savage our national waterways and the popular laws that protect them," Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said, explaining his support of the bill.
A 2002 Bush administration executive rule change altered the long-standing definition of "fill material" in the Clean Water Act. The new definition permits mining waste to be used to fill streams, allowing companies to blast apart mountains for coal and place the resulting rubble or "excess spoil" into nearby valleys, creating "valley fills" that cover hundreds of acres of land and bury hundreds of miles of streams.
The Clean Water Protection Act is aimed at reversing this dangerous precedent set by the Bush Administration's rule change.
In this county we take clean, safe water for granted. The Clean Water Protection Act is necessary to protect clean drinking water for many of our nation’s cities. We all live downstream.
For a list of current co-sponsors or to prompt your member of Congress visit http://www.theallianceforappalachia.org/cwpa-cosponsors/ Or
http://www.ilovemountains.org/action/write_your_rep/
"The Clean Water Protection Act is the first broad Congressional initiative aimed at reversing the Bush Administration's eight year effort to savage our national waterways and the popular laws that protect them," Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said, explaining his support of the bill.
A 2002 Bush administration executive rule change altered the long-standing definition of "fill material" in the Clean Water Act. The new definition permits mining waste to be used to fill streams, allowing companies to blast apart mountains for coal and place the resulting rubble or "excess spoil" into nearby valleys, creating "valley fills" that cover hundreds of acres of land and bury hundreds of miles of streams.
The Clean Water Protection Act is aimed at reversing this dangerous precedent set by the Bush Administration's rule change.
In this county we take clean, safe water for granted. The Clean Water Protection Act is necessary to protect clean drinking water for many of our nation’s cities. We all live downstream.
Southern States Are Doing The Right Thing!
Southern state lawmakers take aim at mountaintop removal.
North Carolina is not a coal mining state, but its electric utilities are still involved in one of the most destructive mining practices used today-mountaintop removal mining.
A bill introduced into the state legislature this week aims to end NC utilities' use of coal from mountaintop removal operations. Similar legislation has also been introduced in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee.
NC Rep. Pricey Harrison is the sponsor of the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act, which would require the state's utilities to phase out the use of coal from mountaintop removal mines. The House bill was introduced with 27 original sponsors from both parties and Sen. Steve Gross has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
"This is a horrific and destructive practice," Harrison said at a press conference held today at the NC legislature. "We want to remind NC citizens that when they turn on the light switch, they're blowing up mountains."
NC is currently the second-largest consumer of mountaintop removal-mined coal in the nation after Georgia. Thirty percent of the state's electricity is generated from the burning of such coal, whose extraction has permanently destroyed more than 470 Appalachian peaks and damaged more than 1,200 miles of head water streams.
This legislation will most assuradly face strong opposition. We must let our lawmakers know that North Carolinians are against mountaintop removal mining. Contact your Representive at http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=House&nUserID=504 and tell them that you support the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act .
North Carolina is not a coal mining state, but its electric utilities are still involved in one of the most destructive mining practices used today-mountaintop removal mining.
A bill introduced into the state legislature this week aims to end NC utilities' use of coal from mountaintop removal operations. Similar legislation has also been introduced in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee.
NC Rep. Pricey Harrison is the sponsor of the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act, which would require the state's utilities to phase out the use of coal from mountaintop removal mines. The House bill was introduced with 27 original sponsors from both parties and Sen. Steve Gross has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
"This is a horrific and destructive practice," Harrison said at a press conference held today at the NC legislature. "We want to remind NC citizens that when they turn on the light switch, they're blowing up mountains."
NC is currently the second-largest consumer of mountaintop removal-mined coal in the nation after Georgia. Thirty percent of the state's electricity is generated from the burning of such coal, whose extraction has permanently destroyed more than 470 Appalachian peaks and damaged more than 1,200 miles of head water streams.
This legislation will most assuradly face strong opposition. We must let our lawmakers know that North Carolinians are against mountaintop removal mining. Contact your Representive at http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=House&nUserID=504 and tell them that you support the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act .
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bo Webb's Urgent Letter To President Obama
This was written by Bo Webb, a resident of the Coal River Valley in WV. He has requested that this be spread as far and wide as possible, in the hope that just maybe it will get someone’s attention.
Like sitting ducks waiting to be buried in an avalanche of mountain waste, we are trapped in a war zone within our own country.
Dear Mr. President,
As I write this letter, I brace myself for another round of nerve-wracking explosives being detonated above my home in the mountains of West Virginia. Outside my door, pulverized rock dust laden with diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate explosives hovers in the air, along with the residual of heavy metals that once lay dormant underground. The mountain above me, once a thriving forest, has been blasted into a pile of rock and mud rubble. Two years ago, it was covered with rich black top soil and abounded with hardwood trees, rhododendrons, ferns and flowers. The under-story thrived with herbs such as ginseng, black cohosh, yellow root, and many other medicinal plants. Black bears, deer, wild turkey, hawks, owls, and thousands of birds lived here. The mountain contained sparkling streams teeming with aquatic life and fish. Now it is all gone. It is all dead. I live at the bottom of a mountain top removal coal mining operation in the Peachtree community. Mr. President Obama, I am writing you because we have simply run out of options. Last week, the 4th US Circuit Court in Richmond, VA overturned a federal court ruling for greater environmental restrictions on mountaintop removal permits. Dozens of permits now stand to be rushed through. As you know, last December, the EPA under George W. Bush allowed an 11th hour change to the stream buffer zone rule, further unleashing the coal companies to do as they please.During your presidential campaign, you declared: "We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal, than simply blowing the tops off mountains."That time is now. Or never. Every day, more than three million pounds of explosives are detonated in our state to remove our mountains and expose the thin seams of coal. Over 470 mountains in Appalachia have been destroyed in this process, the coal scooped up and hauled away to be burned at coal-fired power plants across our country and abroad. This includes the Potomac River Plant, which generates the electricity for the White House. Mountaintop removal is the dirty secret in our nation's energy supply. If coal can't be mined clean, it can't be called clean. Here at the point of extraction, coal passes through a preparation plant that manages to remove some but not all of the metals and toxins. Those separated impurities are stored in mammoth toxic sludge dams above our communities throughout Appalachia. There are three sludge dams within 10 miles of my home. Coal companies are now blasting directly above and next to a dam above my home that contains over two billion gallons of toxic waste. That is the same seeping dam that hovers just 400 yards above the Marsh Fork Elementary School. As you know, coal sludge dams have failed before and lives have been lost. My family and I, like many American citizens in Appalachia, are living in a state of terror. Like sitting ducks waiting to be buried in an avalanche of mountain waste or crushed by a falling boulder, we are trapped in a war zone within our own country. In 1968, I served my country in Vietnam, as part of the 1st Battalion 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. As you know, Appalachians have never failed to serve our country; our mountain riflemen stood with George Washington at the surrender of the British in Yorktown. West Virginia provided more per capita soldiers for the Union during the Civil War than any other state; we have given our blood for every war since. We have also given our blood for the burden of coal in these mountains. My uncle died in the underground mines at the age of 17; another uncle was paralyzed from an accident. My Dad worked in an underground mine. Many in my family have suffered from black lung disease. These mountains are our home. My family roots are deep in these mountains. We homesteaded this area in the 1820s. This is where I was born. This is where I will die. On January 15, 1972, US Sen. John D. Rockefeller made a speech at Morris Harvey College. He declared: "The government has turned its back on the many West Virginians who have borne out of their property and out of their pocketbook the destructive impact of stripmining. We hear that the Governor once claimed to have wept as he flew over the strip mine devastation of our state. Now it's the people who weep."Our state government has turned its back on us in 2009. Peachtree is but one of hundreds of Appalachian communities that are being bombed. Our property has been de-valued to worthlessness. Our neighbors, fellow American citizens, put their kids to bed at night with the fear of being crushed or swept away in toxic sludge. And the outside coal industries continue their criminal activity through misleading and false ads. Mr. President, when I heard you talk during your campaign stops it made me feel like there was hope for Peachtree and the Coal River Valley of West Virginia. Hope for me and my family. Abraham Lincoln wrote that we cannot escape history. "The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation."I beg you to relight our flame of hope and honor, and immediately stop the coal companies from blasting so near our homes and endangering our lives. As you have said, we must find another way than blowing off the tops of our mountains. We must end mountaintop removal. I also ask you to please put an end to these dangerous toxic sludge dams. With utmost respect, yours truly,
Bo WebbNaoma, WV
President Obama
Like sitting ducks waiting to be buried in an avalanche of mountain waste, we are trapped in a war zone within our own country.
Dear Mr. President,
As I write this letter, I brace myself for another round of nerve-wracking explosives being detonated above my home in the mountains of West Virginia. Outside my door, pulverized rock dust laden with diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate explosives hovers in the air, along with the residual of heavy metals that once lay dormant underground. The mountain above me, once a thriving forest, has been blasted into a pile of rock and mud rubble. Two years ago, it was covered with rich black top soil and abounded with hardwood trees, rhododendrons, ferns and flowers. The under-story thrived with herbs such as ginseng, black cohosh, yellow root, and many other medicinal plants. Black bears, deer, wild turkey, hawks, owls, and thousands of birds lived here. The mountain contained sparkling streams teeming with aquatic life and fish. Now it is all gone. It is all dead. I live at the bottom of a mountain top removal coal mining operation in the Peachtree community. Mr. President Obama, I am writing you because we have simply run out of options. Last week, the 4th US Circuit Court in Richmond, VA overturned a federal court ruling for greater environmental restrictions on mountaintop removal permits. Dozens of permits now stand to be rushed through. As you know, last December, the EPA under George W. Bush allowed an 11th hour change to the stream buffer zone rule, further unleashing the coal companies to do as they please.During your presidential campaign, you declared: "We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal, than simply blowing the tops off mountains."That time is now. Or never. Every day, more than three million pounds of explosives are detonated in our state to remove our mountains and expose the thin seams of coal. Over 470 mountains in Appalachia have been destroyed in this process, the coal scooped up and hauled away to be burned at coal-fired power plants across our country and abroad. This includes the Potomac River Plant, which generates the electricity for the White House. Mountaintop removal is the dirty secret in our nation's energy supply. If coal can't be mined clean, it can't be called clean. Here at the point of extraction, coal passes through a preparation plant that manages to remove some but not all of the metals and toxins. Those separated impurities are stored in mammoth toxic sludge dams above our communities throughout Appalachia. There are three sludge dams within 10 miles of my home. Coal companies are now blasting directly above and next to a dam above my home that contains over two billion gallons of toxic waste. That is the same seeping dam that hovers just 400 yards above the Marsh Fork Elementary School. As you know, coal sludge dams have failed before and lives have been lost. My family and I, like many American citizens in Appalachia, are living in a state of terror. Like sitting ducks waiting to be buried in an avalanche of mountain waste or crushed by a falling boulder, we are trapped in a war zone within our own country. In 1968, I served my country in Vietnam, as part of the 1st Battalion 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. As you know, Appalachians have never failed to serve our country; our mountain riflemen stood with George Washington at the surrender of the British in Yorktown. West Virginia provided more per capita soldiers for the Union during the Civil War than any other state; we have given our blood for every war since. We have also given our blood for the burden of coal in these mountains. My uncle died in the underground mines at the age of 17; another uncle was paralyzed from an accident. My Dad worked in an underground mine. Many in my family have suffered from black lung disease. These mountains are our home. My family roots are deep in these mountains. We homesteaded this area in the 1820s. This is where I was born. This is where I will die. On January 15, 1972, US Sen. John D. Rockefeller made a speech at Morris Harvey College. He declared: "The government has turned its back on the many West Virginians who have borne out of their property and out of their pocketbook the destructive impact of stripmining. We hear that the Governor once claimed to have wept as he flew over the strip mine devastation of our state. Now it's the people who weep."Our state government has turned its back on us in 2009. Peachtree is but one of hundreds of Appalachian communities that are being bombed. Our property has been de-valued to worthlessness. Our neighbors, fellow American citizens, put their kids to bed at night with the fear of being crushed or swept away in toxic sludge. And the outside coal industries continue their criminal activity through misleading and false ads. Mr. President, when I heard you talk during your campaign stops it made me feel like there was hope for Peachtree and the Coal River Valley of West Virginia. Hope for me and my family. Abraham Lincoln wrote that we cannot escape history. "The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation."I beg you to relight our flame of hope and honor, and immediately stop the coal companies from blasting so near our homes and endangering our lives. As you have said, we must find another way than blowing off the tops of our mountains. We must end mountaintop removal. I also ask you to please put an end to these dangerous toxic sludge dams. With utmost respect, yours truly,
Bo WebbNaoma, WV
President Obama
What Is Mountaintop Removal Mining?
Mountaintop removal mining is a form of strip mining in which coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1000 feet off the tops of mountains order to reach the coal seams that lie underneath. The resulting millions of tons of waste rock, dirt, and vegetation are then dumped into surrounding valleys, burying miles and miles of streams under piles of rubble hundreds of feet deep. Mountaintop removal mining harms not only aquatic ecosystems and water quality, but also destroys hundreds of acres of healthy forests and fish and wildlife habitat, including habitat of threatened and endangered species, when the tops of mountains are blasted away.
This practice also devastates Appalachian communities and cultures that have existed in these mountains for hundreds of years. Residents of the surrounding communities are threatened by rock slides, catastrophic floods, poisoned water supplies, constant blasting, destroyed property, and lost culture. As a result, many have been fighting the practice for years. Mountaintop removal mining takes place in many states in the Appalachian region, including West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.
According to the Bush administration's own estimates, mountaintop removal mining in the region has already destroyed over 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that at least 2,400 miles of streams will be permanently wiped out by 2013 if additional environmental restrictions are not enforced. Mountaintop removal mining has also leveled over 800 square miles of West Virginia land. If this permit approval continues, by the end of this decade 1.4 million acres of Appalachian land will be lost, an area equal in size to the entire state of Delaware.
FYI~The Appalachian mountain range is over 300 million years old.
This practice also devastates Appalachian communities and cultures that have existed in these mountains for hundreds of years. Residents of the surrounding communities are threatened by rock slides, catastrophic floods, poisoned water supplies, constant blasting, destroyed property, and lost culture. As a result, many have been fighting the practice for years. Mountaintop removal mining takes place in many states in the Appalachian region, including West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.
According to the Bush administration's own estimates, mountaintop removal mining in the region has already destroyed over 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that at least 2,400 miles of streams will be permanently wiped out by 2013 if additional environmental restrictions are not enforced. Mountaintop removal mining has also leveled over 800 square miles of West Virginia land. If this permit approval continues, by the end of this decade 1.4 million acres of Appalachian land will be lost, an area equal in size to the entire state of Delaware.
FYI~The Appalachian mountain range is over 300 million years old.
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