Mountain Top Removal Should Stop

Mountain Top Removal is slowly destroying West Virginia. There used to be mountains, healthy streams, a feeling of safety in West Virginia but with every mountain that is blasted down, those things disappear.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rose/the-last-mountain-new-doc_b_875689.html

Mountain Top Removal is when tops of mountains are blasted out to get to a coal seam. These seams are more often than not, very small. The blasting is dangerous and annoying by itself. Rubble can go flying into the nearest community, hurting people and destroying homes. Plus the shanking from the blasts destroys foundations, again wrecking homes. Blasting occurs at all hours of the day, so if you have a kid, good luck getting them to sleep at a reasonable time.

http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php

Once the coal seam is reached the rest of the removed mountain is moved into valley fills. These valleys are homes to several animals and are where many streams originate. The animals are forced to move or die and streams are blocked off in that area. What little water is left in those streams are contaminated and cause people to get sick. There have also been mutated fish found in these waters. Imagine if the water is messing up the fish what it can to do a fetus, which is more susceptible to harm than an adult.  

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/rperks/time_magazine_turns_attention.html

Coal Companies would have everyone believe that coal is good for our state. Coal is, after all the big money maker in our state. Coal Companies say they are creating jobs, jobs that are safer. They say they are using reclamation to bring back what was once here in West Virginia.

http://ohiocitizen.org/opposition-to-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining-solidifies-since-april-1/

But what they don’t tell you is that “safer” is just the miners not having to go underground because of Mountain Top Removal and that machines are actually taking over in the mining industry. Fewer and fewer miners are needed. So the jobs created are to operate these machines but that only takes one or two people. Hundreds of miners are what used to be used for the job a machine does.

http://ilovemountains.org/resources

Reclamation is another thing Coal Companies try to pass off as something good. They only show the few successes they have and make it seem that that’s how it always happens. They don’t show people that most of the time they just plant grass, or that the trees they grow are unhealthy. They definitely don’t tell people that they plant trees that aren’t native to the area and expect them to grow. They also don't tell how the little bit of grass or trees they plant don't stop erosion or flooding.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmemorialforthemountains/4534742719/

Coal Companies biggest argument is that coal is what brings money into West Virginia. Well West Virginia is running out of reachable coal. Soon there won’t be any coal left, what will bring in the money then? And if coal is such a big money maker, why is it the communities sending out the most coal are the poorest in West Virginia. Plus the entire world is slowly moving to other energy sources, what will happen when they stop using coal all together. The Coal Companies have no answers for these questions, and they are not the answer for West Virginia.