Mountaintop removal mining is a form of strip mining that completely removes up to 800 feet of bedrock from a mountain top. This form of coal mining is practiced in the southern Appalachians and the Allegheny Plateau in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.
Environmental effects of mountaintop removal mining include deforestation, sludge flows, aquifer depletion and groundwater pollution.
Societial effects include loss of human life, safety, health and property due to extensive blasting, toxic waste storage and catastrophic flooding, as well as the resulting loss of the native culture that ensues.
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Seeks to develop and establish a voluntary system to independently verify compliance with environmental, human rights and social standards for mining operations. Includes documents and updates.
Empowering activists and communities opposed to mining through information on global mining trends, specific projects and mining industry attempts to subvert legitimate protest. Includes news.
Documentation of history and current events of 1872 mining law reform actions in U.S. Congress along with data on problems with mining and causes for delays in reform.
Monitoring Australian mining companies' impact on the environment and vulnerable communities.
Information about mountain top mining and valley fill, and the environmental damage this practice is causing around the state and in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Discusses process, economics, legislation and criticism. Includes references.
Article shares remarks from people living in affected regions.
(October 21, 2007)
Bob Abernethy interviews religious critics who say the price, in human terms, of mountaintop removal mining is too high. Includes the video report.
(February 02, 2007)
Article discusses long-term effects of mountaintop removal mining. By Amanda Paulson.
(January 03, 2006)
Article discusses the environmental and human impacts being felt in Appalachia. Includes photographs. By Joby Warrick.
(August 17, 2004)
Monitoring Australian mining companies' impact on the environment and vulnerable communities.
Documentation of history and current events of 1872 mining law reform actions in U.S. Congress along with data on problems with mining and causes for delays in reform.
Information about mountain top mining and valley fill, and the environmental damage this practice is causing around the state and in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Empowering activists and communities opposed to mining through information on global mining trends, specific projects and mining industry attempts to subvert legitimate protest. Includes news.
Seeks to develop and establish a voluntary system to independently verify compliance with environmental, human rights and social standards for mining operations. Includes documents and updates.
Discusses process, economics, legislation and criticism. Includes references.
Article shares remarks from people living in affected regions.
(October 21, 2007)
Bob Abernethy interviews religious critics who say the price, in human terms, of mountaintop removal mining is too high. Includes the video report.
(February 02, 2007)
Article discusses long-term effects of mountaintop removal mining. By Amanda Paulson.
(January 03, 2006)
Article discusses the environmental and human impacts being felt in Appalachia. Includes photographs. By Joby Warrick.
(August 17, 2004)
