Putting Things in Perspective
Julian Martin’s Compendium on Mountain Top Removal Stripmining
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Over 400,000 acres of West Virginia mountain tops have been removed, this is over three times the land in WV state parks.L
Over 80,000,000 board feet (and climbing) of hardwood timber lost every year, forever, to Mountain Top Removal StripminingL
1000 miles of streams have been permitted to be buried in Valley Fills.L
Mountain Top Removal blasts are set off that are 10 to 1000 times the force of the Oklahoma City bombing.L
Mining jobs dropped 29% between 1987 and 1997 while production of coal went up 32%.L
The mining industry has destroyed over 100,000 coal mining jobs in the last forty years.Listen to Bill Maxey, retired director of the Division of Forestry:
"The rate of decapitation of our mountains has increased to 30,000 acres annually, It will take 150 to 200 years before trees will become re-established following such a drastic mining practice."
"All native plant and animals are practically eliminated.
"This irresponsible excavation of coal makes the landscape so unsightly that it ruins tourism."
"It is a sad irony that mountaintop removal actually destroys more coal mining jobs than it creates; union miners are expediently replaced by relatively few heavy-equipment operators.
"I think mountaintop removal is analogous to serious disease, like AIDS..."
Julian Martin is a director of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.