InDefenseOfPOMO Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Recently I have been educating myself about something I should have already had plenty of knowledge of (I live in a media market where it gets attention): mountaintop removal. I have learned: --Mountaintop removal is practiced only in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. --Mountaintop removal is strip/surface mining "on steroids". --Mountaintop removal began in the 1970's but became very common in the 1990's. --The Martin County, KY coal slurry spill was an environmental disaster 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. --Mountaintop removal causes flooding. I do not know exactly how. The amateur geologist in me guesses that it is because it leaves less surface area of soil to absorb precipitation. --Mountaintop removal pollutes the surrounding environment with dust containing, among other toxins, mercury. --In the U.S. the health effects of coal mining on residents of Appalachia has not been studied much because it is assumed that poverty and smoking explain the health of the region's residents. However, an Indiana University researcher who takes the matter more seriously has found that after you control for poverty and smoking there are clear links between coal mining, poor health, and high mortality rates in Appalachia (the entire population, not just the people working in the mines). --Reclamation rarely involves reforestation. --Good luck with economic development--good luck attracting other industries--when you are left with land covered with toxic dust. --A recurring theme in the literature on the topic is this: mountaintop removal occurrs because of our insatiable appetite for cheap electricity. --The mountains, their beauty, and their ecosystems are, literally, lost. Apparently some people and places are considered expendable, even within the "developed world"--even within its own boundaries. And have you noticed how Appalachia is scapegoated when things do not turn out the way the coastal elites want them to? Just read some of the commentary that followed Donald Trump's victory in November, 2016 if you do not know what I mean. And have you noticed that if somebody seeking higher office has a social program to sell to voters they opportunistically appear in Appalachia for photo ops? Have you noticed that, like what apparently happened to Flint, MI, they are then nowhere near the region's radar? It must be 100 times worse in the "developing world" if this is how Wall Street treats vulnerable people and places in its own backyard. If you have read all of this, thank you. I encourage you to now educate yourself about something and then make others more conscious of it. Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Yep, I've read plenty about it. And it will continue as long as people push for coal to continue to be used as a significant source of energy production and push for coal jobs. It is very sad and wasteful and short-sighted. Link to post Share on other sites
ColeHW34 Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Unfortunately this is still happening without any regard for locals, flora and fauna. Yet they call themselves reasonable and ecofriendly even as they mass murder and poison local animals, water sources, discriminate against clientele, and don't put back what they take. All for the "economy" and to provide "jobs". Link to post Share on other sites
FindingTheta Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 My uncle lives next to a mountaintop removal site (on the VA/KY border) . I remember the dynamite explosions shaking the window, and once you get past the tree lines all you see is a moonscape. One has to be there in order to take in the horror of what has happened, or is happening. These people are the true eco-terrorists, and once they're done they're gonna leave the inhabitants with nothing. It's easy to blame the poor so those who are easily drawn to stereotyping will blame the rural poor, but Trump came to power thanks to the upper-middle class business owners. Link to post Share on other sites
Karst Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Poisoning the water and arable land in an area has terrible long-term economic effects, too. Even if they don't care about the wildlife, business owners and legislators should take that into consideration. Link to post Share on other sites
FindingTheta Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 13 hours ago, Karst said: Poisoning the water and arable land in an area has terrible long-term economic effects, too. Even if they don't care about the wildlife, business owners and legislators should take that into consideration. In their mind short-term profits > long term profits, and the MNCs responsible for ecocide have a history of sitting on studies and data that impact their quarterly and annual earnings. Link to post Share on other sites
Karst Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 1 hour ago, FindingTheta said: In their mind short-term profits > long term profits, and the MNCs responsible for ecocide have a history of sitting on studies and data that impact their quarterly and annual earnings. The tobacco companies did something similar- when research started to come out that smoking causes lung cancer, they tried to suppress it. Link to post Share on other sites
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