** MOUNTAINTOP MINING **
Charleston Gazette, June 28, 2007 By Ken Ward Jr. Grammy Award-winning country music star Kathy Mattea is joining the fight over mountaintop removal coal mining. The Cross Lanes native is also speaking out about climate change, throwing herself into two of the biggest environmental controversies facing her home state. Mattea has been trained to deliver Al Gore’s now-famous climate change slide show, and has been giving the presentation over the last few months. Next month, Mattea plans to take a flyover of the southern coalfields and visit Kayford Mountain near Cabin Creek to see mountaintop removal sites. On Wednesday, the Sierra Club began promoting that visit.... |
|
AND WHAT WILL KATHY MATTEA AND THE SIERRA CLUB SEE? THIS:
AND THIS!
______________________________________________________________
|
NOW LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT
You're looking at reclaimed mountaintop removal land. Notice that it's NOT flat. ________________________________________ OR THIS:
Water... where non existed before. Small and large ponds important for wildlife ________________________________________ OR THIS:
Only a few years old, land being used for recreation that was impossible before. ___________________________________________ OR THIS:
Who would ever have dreamed that a golf course could appear in southern WV? _______________________________
|
HERE ARE SOME AREAS THAT
Yeager Airport. A mountaintop removal project! This is the end of the runway. _________________________________________ THEY WONT FLY OVER THIS:
Mt Olive Correctional Center. This was a mountaintop removal coal mine! _______________________________ And I'll bet Mattea has never shopped here before (sure)
SOUTHRIDGE! The most successful business location in southern WV |
BOTTOM LINE: There is no doubt that mining practices in the past have been less than stellar. However, technology has improved to the point that this is no longer the case. Both technology and new federal and state laws have improved the mining climate to the point of leaving the land better than it was found. Let's face it: We have very little flat usable space in southern WV. Flat land comes at a premium and so little development has occurred in that region. Both private commerce and the state have gained from mountaintop removal. Another thing people fail to realize is that Mother nature has her own way of healing: I've looked for some of the worst examples of former mining practices (like Longwall mining) and it's almost non existent due to nature reclaiming in her own unstoppable way. It's amazing how man has little effect in this region in the long run. A personal note to all you environmental kooks: I have personally walked the reclaimed lands of former mountaintop removal sites. I have seen wildlife ( like migratory birds ) utilizing the opened fields and ponds created by mountaintop removal. Many of these birds had never stopped in this area to rest before, due to the lack of water and rugged terrain. I can see these remote areas becoming the NEW hatching/resting grounds for migratory birds who's roosting grounds have been encroached-on by mans need to build and expand. Keep this in mind the next time you complain that animals are losing habitat! Here is the solution! Disclaimer: I have never been affiliated with anyone in the coal industry nor do I own stock in the coal industry. As someone who's had the privilege to see these reclaimed lands up close and personal, I make my statements from simple observation on the ground.... not from an airplane at 1000 feet like so many uninformed do-gooders. Things are not always what they appear to be... especially at great heights. So don't let the photos from Google or other sources fool you. Take time to learn for yourself, and not just take others words for the truth, because if you do... you will be as clueless as they are.
|