Against Mountaintop Removal Blog

                 Mountaintop removal is a very controversial issue throughout Appalachia. Even though money is made because of the coal mined from mountaintop removal operations, it’s quite costly to the environment and all who live in and around it.

                The most obvious issue with mountaintop removal is the damage done to the environment. It hurts the local ecosystem, meaning it harms tiny insects, all the way up to behemoth trees and animals. These resident species must move to other habitats and adapt to a different environment.

                Creeks and streams can be destroyed by the overburden (or the unused part of the mountain) and water supplies can be contaminated from the chemicals from runoff mining operations.

                In order to access coal inside of mountains, mining operators have to blast the top of the mountain off in order to reach the coal. Blasting can cause major disturbances and potential damage to local homes or property and roads that may come close to the mining site. The damage isn’t limited to the mining site and its vicinity. The coal consumption process that mountaintop removal enables can also harm the environment, such as coal dust that can cover roads, buildings and surrounding foliage. Coal dust can also cause health related problems, especially those with preexisting conditions like asthma. In more extreme cases, miners who work in the mines for most of their lives can develop black lung, which is caused by long exposure to coal dust.

                Mountaintop removal, though profitable and helpful for energy production, the environmental and health effects are more harmful than the positive effects of energy production and profit.

http://ilovemountains.org/