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Mountaintop removal coal mining, often described as "strip mining on steroids," is an extremely destructive form of mining that is devastating Appalachia. In the past few decades, over 2,000 miles of streams and headwaters that provide drinking water for millions of Americans have been permanently buried and destroyed. An area the size of Delaware has been flattened. Local coal field communities routinely face devastating floods and adverse health effects. Natural habitats in some our country's oldest forests are laid to waste. Earthjustice has been in the courts and in Congress on behalf of other local and national environmental and community groups to stop this destructive practice and protect Appalachia for future generations.
Coal companies first raze an entire mountainside, ripping trees from the ground and clearing brush with huge tractors. This debris is then set ablaze as deep holes are dug for explosives. An explosive is poured into these holes and mountaintops are literally blown apart. Huge machines called draglines -- some the size of an entire city block, able to scoop up to 100 tons in a single load -- push rock and dirt into nearby streams and valleys, forever burying waterways. Coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1,000 feet off the tops of mountains order to reach thin coal seams buried deep below.
426 17th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 | 1.800.584.6460 | info@earthjustice.org
Founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971
426 17th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 | 1.800.584.6460 | info@earthjustice.org
Founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971