OMG... This is totally hideous: Rule to Expand Mountaintop Coal Mining WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 — The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams. It has been used in Appalachian coal country for 20 years under a cloud of legal and regulatory confusion. The new rule would allow the practice to continue and expand, providing only that mine operators minimize the debris and cause the least environmental harm, although those terms are not clearly defined and to some extent merely restate existing law.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Aug 27 2007, 05:11 PM) [snapback]502941[/snapback]</div> Yes. And, there will be many more mountaintop experiences, I'm sure, as the glaciers melt.
Anyone visited this website? You can use their form to send emails to your reps about stopping this. There is also a form to send out to your friends and get them signed on too! http://www.ilovemountains.org/take_action/
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Aug 28 2007, 01:10 PM) [snapback]503381[/snapback]</div> Aesthetics? Toxins washing down into streams that then flow down to populated areas. Perhaps into municipal water supplies. Killing fish, poisoning wildlife, sickening people.
I just know what I've seen. And the large grooves resulting from such practices are ugly, ugly, ugly. Truth be told, I am unaware of the degree to which this particular mining practice pollutes our environment. I'll research this so that I can get more enraged.
