MTR: When is Enough, Enough?
Coming from a farming background, there are many laws by the government regulating things such as runoff of chemicals, use of hormones, and spray drift from pesticides. If there are so many laws and regulations regarding something like those things, then why are there not as many strict regulations for something that removes entire mountains and destroys hundreds of natural streams. So why hasn’t anyone done anything about it? “Legal controls over strip mining were enacted in the early 1970s. Since then, the increased use of strip mining has generated considerable attention. In particular, concerns over one type of strip mining called mountaintop removal (MTR) have intensified, leading to the formation of several grassroots organizations that oppose the practice.” (Stretesky, Lynch) The government is aware of Mountain Top Removal and has enacted laws to regulate it, but why aren’t laws more strict to keep companies from continuously violating them?
Different from underground mining, MTR alters the land to expose major seams of coal deposits that can be extracted from the surface. To start the process of MTR, all trees and vegetations must be removed to expose the ground. All of this vegetation is pushed into the nearest surrounding valley. Then, all rock and soil are blasted using explosives to soften the area. After that, machines are brought in to remove the softened dirt and rock to reach the coal deposits. Just like the vegetation, the dirt and rock are pushed into the valley which can destroy surrounding streams that some people depend on for water and sometimes even food. After all of this is done, extraction of coal can now occur. After surface mining is completed, reclamation is supposed to ensue. Reclamation is the process of regrading the area and planting vegetation back in its place. Despite legal protection that requires strip mined areas to be reclaimed, strip mining can be damaging to the basic ecology and environment. (Stretesky, Lynch) “At least 750 miles of the state’s streams have been buried by valley fills. In some counties, according to the Cable News Network (CNN), 20 percent of the land mass has been mined by mountaintop removal. So far, about 300,000 acres of hardwood forest have been destroyed, leaving a monument to greed that astronauts can see from outer space.” (Stockman) Mountain Top Removal has been going on for decades but only in the late 90’s did the number of operations skyrocket. Nothing has kept the coal companies in check, especially not the State Division of Environmental Protection (DEP). And of course, the last several heads of the DEP have been coal company executives. (Stockman) So if it is so obvious that our elected leaders are allowing the coal companies to step all over the people, then why do the people keep allowing them to come back and do it again.
Mountain Top Removal has devastated the Appalachian region and its people for decades and not until recently has something been done to try and stop the devastation. After all these years, hundreds of thousands of acres of forests, hundreds of miles of streams, and close to a fourth of the land mass in the region has been destroyed just so the companies can make a quick dollar.
Video on MTR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5RcbPZXUZo
Mountaintop removal mining impact study results by state:
Kentucky
574,000 acres
293 mountains
Tennessee
78,000 acres
6 mountains
Virginia
156,000 acres
67 mountains
West Virginia
352,000 acres
135 mountains
TOTAL
1,160,000 acres
501 mountains
Stretesky, Paul B., and Michael J. Lynch. “Coal Strip Mining, Mountaintop Removal, and the Distribution of Environmental Violations Across the United States, 2002–2008.” Landscape Research, vol. 36, no. 2, 2011, pp. 209–230.
Stockman, Vivian. “Mountain Top Removal: Ole King Coal Slowly Dies in West Virginia.” Earth First, vol. 20, no. 2, 2000, pp. 5.
