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 .