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| In eastern Kentucky, coal companies now blast as much as 600 feet off the tops of mountains to reach the seams of coal. To view a mountain top removal photo, visit the MTR Roadshow Calendar page. Some of the most biologically diverse and productive temperate hardwood forests in the world are being eliminated by mountaintop removal, replaced by "reclaimed" grasslands sewn with exotic, invasive weeds. Coal companies dump millions of tons of "overburden" (the rock and soil that lies above a coal seam) into headwater mountain streams in under-regulated structures called "valley fills." Thousands of underground miner's jobs have been eliminated as giant machines do the work of hundreds of men.
Mountaintop removal contaminates streams, explosions shake the ground and damage the foundations of nearby houses, showering communities with dust from the blasting. Nearby residents are subjected to repeated flash floods as deforested mountains fail to hold back the rainwater.
Giant coal waste impoundments called "slurry ponds" hold billions of gallons of toxic coal waste in the mountains of Appalachia. In October 2000, Kentucky was the site of the worst environmental disaster in the southeast United States when a 2.2 billion gallon Massey Energy slurry pond failed into an abandoned undergound coal mine in Martin County, Kentucky, sending an estimated 300 million gallons of coal sludge into two mountain streams, Coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek. The spill was over 25 times as large as the Exxon Valdez spill. |
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The Sierra Club approaches environmental protection from several angles, including lobbying to influence relevant legislation, working to support pro-environmental candidates for political office, and issue education and publicity.
To help educate Americans about the tragedy of mountaintop removal, the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club is sponsoring The Mountaintop Removal Road Show, a travelling volunteer presentation that teaches people about the true costs of our nation's addiction to "cheap energy" from coal-fired power plants. View the Roadshow Calendar here.
Cumberland Chapter volunteer Dave Cooper, often accompanied by a resident of the Appalachian coalfields who has been personally impacted by mountaintop removal, has travelled to 15 states since 2003, giving over 250 slide show presentations about mountaintop removal. The presentation is suitable for university students, church and civic organizations, as well as environmental groups. There is no charge for the presentation, although honorariums for travel expenses are gratefully accepted by our volunteer crew. To book the Mountaintop Removal Road Show in your community, contact Dave Cooper, or call (859) 299-5669.
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