Got an email about MTR today
Ha. I got an email today that said The Clean Water Protection Act got into the 109th congress today. It had 55 co-sponsors, up from only 18 in the 108th congress. I hope Ben Chandler was one of the supporters, because I sent him an email and he (or more likely, his intern) sent me one back pledging that he would "take all precautions necessary to safeguard our state's river system"
The Clean Water Protection Act is a bill that un-does Prez. Bush's re-definition of the word "fill". It would significantly decrease Mountain Top Removal Mining.
Anyone who likes Kentucky, Appalachia, the mountains, the culture, forests, the environment, or just doesn't care but has some free time, should email their congressman RIGHT NOW and tell him to support the Clean Water Protection Act. Just Google it to find out who and what address.
For those of you that know about Mountain Top Removal, ignore this rant. Some people don't know about it, and this is for them. Hell, I didn't even know about it til last semester...So if you know about it, skip the rant and go strait to emailing congress...
==Rant Begins==
Mountain Top Removal mining (MTR) is a relatively new method of mining for coal in Appalachia. First the coal companies clear cut the old-growth and virgin forests. Then they use a HUGE crane to scrape of tonnes and tonnes of dirt and rock, effectively leveling the mountain. They use dynamite, as much force as the bomb that dropped over Hiroshima, daily. They forcefully take people's homes from them and make them to move from the land that they know and love. They compensate these people for a fraction of what their homes may be worth. They dump the dirt and rocks into Kentucky's streams and rivers, creating DEADLY flooding problems. When they are done stripping out the coal, they "reclaim" the mountain. This means that they pile some rocks on top (but no top soil) and spray a mixture of quick start fertilizer and grass seed. As soon as the grass grows, they are off the hook. For probably HUNDREDS of years, none of Kentucky's native trees can grow on this barren land. There has been minor success planting Silky Dogwoods, an invasive but nitrogen fixing foreign tree species. After making the land commercially worthless, the companies !sell! it back to the (by this time very poor) city, where it his held undeveloped for years, barren and flat.
Why do they do this? How can removing an entire mountain be cheaper than just drilling a hole? Labor costs, my friend. It takes one man in a bulldozer to do the work of forty men with drilling machines. So, besides destroying the land and making people move away from their homes, MTR allows coal companies to allow almost no money to go back into the town and states economy. By increasing profit margins, the multinational energy corporations exports money away from Kentucky. It pays the few miners it hires squat, so it also creates very poor coal miner "ghettos," rife with drugs and crime.
Is there an alternative? I realize that the economy of many towns rely on coal. I actually support coal, if it is mined correctly. U.S. energy independence would be terrific. I think we should return to the hundreds of year-old practice of shaft mining. With modern advances in technology, it is safe and effective way to mine. It is the only method allowed in state parks, it is the method used in Europe, it is better for Kentucky's economy, the forests and the mountains of Appalachia, and the communities that make this area unique.
==Rant Over==
Please please please send something to someone.
If you are feeling lazy, you can just copy>paste that last bit.
Hey, Jeff Bob, when are you going to tell me something about MTR like you said in your responce to my post a few days ago...
The Clean Water Protection Act is a bill that un-does Prez. Bush's re-definition of the word "fill". It would significantly decrease Mountain Top Removal Mining.
Anyone who likes Kentucky, Appalachia, the mountains, the culture, forests, the environment, or just doesn't care but has some free time, should email their congressman RIGHT NOW and tell him to support the Clean Water Protection Act. Just Google it to find out who and what address.
For those of you that know about Mountain Top Removal, ignore this rant. Some people don't know about it, and this is for them. Hell, I didn't even know about it til last semester...So if you know about it, skip the rant and go strait to emailing congress...
==Rant Begins==
Mountain Top Removal mining (MTR) is a relatively new method of mining for coal in Appalachia. First the coal companies clear cut the old-growth and virgin forests. Then they use a HUGE crane to scrape of tonnes and tonnes of dirt and rock, effectively leveling the mountain. They use dynamite, as much force as the bomb that dropped over Hiroshima, daily. They forcefully take people's homes from them and make them to move from the land that they know and love. They compensate these people for a fraction of what their homes may be worth. They dump the dirt and rocks into Kentucky's streams and rivers, creating DEADLY flooding problems. When they are done stripping out the coal, they "reclaim" the mountain. This means that they pile some rocks on top (but no top soil) and spray a mixture of quick start fertilizer and grass seed. As soon as the grass grows, they are off the hook. For probably HUNDREDS of years, none of Kentucky's native trees can grow on this barren land. There has been minor success planting Silky Dogwoods, an invasive but nitrogen fixing foreign tree species. After making the land commercially worthless, the companies !sell! it back to the (by this time very poor) city, where it his held undeveloped for years, barren and flat.
Why do they do this? How can removing an entire mountain be cheaper than just drilling a hole? Labor costs, my friend. It takes one man in a bulldozer to do the work of forty men with drilling machines. So, besides destroying the land and making people move away from their homes, MTR allows coal companies to allow almost no money to go back into the town and states economy. By increasing profit margins, the multinational energy corporations exports money away from Kentucky. It pays the few miners it hires squat, so it also creates very poor coal miner "ghettos," rife with drugs and crime.
Is there an alternative? I realize that the economy of many towns rely on coal. I actually support coal, if it is mined correctly. U.S. energy independence would be terrific. I think we should return to the hundreds of year-old practice of shaft mining. With modern advances in technology, it is safe and effective way to mine. It is the only method allowed in state parks, it is the method used in Europe, it is better for Kentucky's economy, the forests and the mountains of Appalachia, and the communities that make this area unique.
==Rant Over==
Please please please send something to someone.
If you are feeling lazy, you can just copy>paste that last bit.
Hey, Jeff Bob, when are you going to tell me something about MTR like you said in your responce to my post a few days ago...