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Dirty Energy: Coal Why It's Dirty Mountaintop Removal Mining Top 12 Coal Villians Carbon Sequestration Stopping the Coal Rush

Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) flattens mountains, devastating communities and ecosystems in Appalachia.  A biologically diverse habitat is being destroyed, and the rich Appalachian culture it inspired is threatened. It is a deadly lose-lose for climate change -- accelerating coal burning and deforestation.

In the process of mountaintop removal mining:

• forests are clear-cut to expose the tops of mountains, which are then blown off with explosives
• coal is extracted using large machinery
• unused soil and rock are dumped into adjacent stream valleys, filling them up and creating a flat landscape

Residents of Appalachia living near these mines are threatened by:

• dynamite blasts that damage homes and create clouds of rock dust from poorly regulated mine operations
• poisoned or depleted well water and polluted streams
• increased flooding
• the loss of traditional fishing and hunting areas
• breathing coal dust in their homes

• The coal companies are supposed to reclaim the land, but this rarely occurs.  Even if it does, the mountain ecosystem can never be fully restored.
• MTR also produces massive amounts of toxic waste that is stored behind dams, which endangers nearby towns (see Why It's Dirty: Toxic Waste).

What We Are Doing

This destructive practice has been facilitated by the Bush administration’s disregard of a Reagan-era regulation, known as the “stream buffer zone rule.”  This rule prohibits any mining activities to take place within 100 feet of a stream unless it can be proven that water quality and quantity will not be adversely impacted.  According to the Office of Surface Mining, the Bush administration has blatantly disregarded this rule by approving the destruction of 535 miles of streams since taking office.

In September 2007 the Bush administration proposed repealing the steam buffer zone rule, giving mountaintop removal mining companies a blank check to dump toxic waste and hundreds of millions of tons of mountain remains directly into steams.

In October and November 2007 Co-op America members and supporters sent in over 6,800 comments to the Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining criticizing the repeal of the "stream buffer zone rule." We recommended a common sense alternative: strictly enforcing the law on the books, which would never allow for mountaintop removal.

Do You Love Mountains? Learn More and Take Action ...

Enter your zip code and find your connection to MTR (from our allies at I Mountains)

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