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is a surface mining practice that removes a mountaintop or ridgeline to expose coal seams beneath. Once the mountaintop has been exposed, the waste material, known as overburden, is then disposed in adjacent valleys called “valley fills.” Mountaintop removal takes place primarily in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and into east Tennessee.

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Before mining can begin, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed. The timber is either clear cut and harvested for sale, or trees are dumped into a nearby valley or burned.

CLEARING

After the timber and topsoil are removed and a layer of rock is exposed, the gound is packed with explosives to blast the rock above the coal seam. Blowing up this much mountain is accomplished by using millions of pounds of explosives. Every week the detonation in Appalachia is the explosive equivalent of a

BLASTING

DIGGINGCoal and debris are removed using enormous earth-moving machinery known as draglines, which stand 22 stories high and can hold 24 compact cars in its bucket. These machines can cost up to

$100 MILLION, but are favored by coal companies because they displace the need for hundreds of jobs.

DUMPINGWASTEThe debris called “overburden” or “spoil,” is dumped into nearby valleys. These “valley fills” have buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of headwater streams. In 2002, the Bush Administration changed the definition of “fill material” in the Clean Water Act to include toxic mining waste, which allowed coal companies to legally create valley fills.

PROCESSINGAfter the coal is mined, it is hauled to nearby processing facilities. The coal is then washed and treated before it is shipped to power plants for burning. This processing creates a toxic coal slurry or sludge that is either held in large dams, or injected underground into old mine shafts, where it leaks into the water table and

DESTROYS DRINKING WATER. This toxic sludge is a mix of water, coal dust and clay, and contains the chemicals

ARSENIC MERCURY LEAD AND CHROMIUM

Federal law requires coal companies to restore the land they have stripped. This usually just means returning the land to its

Most companies do not actually meet these requirements because it is either expensive or impossible to restore the land, or they receive waivers from state agencies. It may take up to hundred of years for a forest to reestablish itself on the mined site.

ARSENIC MERCURY LEAD AND CHROMIUM

“APPROXIMATE ORIGINAL CONTOUR.”

RECLA-

RECLA-MATION

NEARLY 10 PERCENT OF APPALACHIAN FORESTS HAVE BEEN LOST SINCE 1985.

OVER 1,000 MILES OF STREAMS AND RIVERS HAVE BEEN BURIED BY DEBRIS FROM MOUNTAINTOP EXPLOSIONS.ANOTHER 700 WILL BE BURIED BEFORE 2018 AT CURRENT RATES.

THE DEFORESTATION COULD ADD AS MUCH AS 138 MILLION TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE INTO THE ATMOSPHERE — NOT INCLUDING THE EVEN LARGER CO2 EMISSIONS FROM BURNING THE COAL.

http://www.foe.org/pdf/Mountaintop_Mining_Factsheet.pdf

http://mountainjustice.org/facts/steps.php

http://www.epa.gov/region3/mtntop/

http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/pdf/Stream_Guidance_final_073010.pdf

http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/

http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/what-is-mountaintop-removal-mining

http://ilovemountains.org/resources/#whatismtr

REFERENCES