mountaintop removal

The collision between environmental protection and coal extraction is nothing new to the Appalachian states, which are home to some of the largest coal deposits in the world. But in the middle of an unemployment crisis — and with a new administration showing signs of cracking down harshly on the destructive practice of mountaintop removal [...]

At the request of the federal government, a federal judge yesterday put a temporary halt to the legal clash over Appalachia’s largest mountaintop coal mine, the 2,300 acre Spruce No. 1 project in Southern West Virginia.
That project is slated to bury more than seven miles of mountain streams, leading to a protracted legal battle with [...]

The EPA just issued a statement announcing that they have extended the review period for 79 surface mining permit applications in Appalachia. This means that the permits will not be streamlined for approval, and is in accordance with the Obama administration’s memorandum issued in June to subject coal-mining permits to greater scrutiny.
“The administration pledged earlier [...]

The Interior Department just sent over its statement reacting to a judge’s decision today to uphold a Bush-era rule making it easier for mining companies to dump their waste in mountain streams. In toto:
This Administration has shown it is determined to improve mining practices and we will do so within the context of the court’s [...]

Bouncing around the InterWeb, one might get curious about what exactly mountaintop removal involves. And so one might do a Google on “mountaintop mining.” And one might click on the first link, which is an industry-sponsored site called mountaintopmining.com. And there one would read interesting statements claiming that blowing the tops off the nation’s oldest [...]