guardian.co.uk
What is mountaintop mining?Also known as mountaintop-removal mining, it is exactly what the name suggests: the practice of dynamiting the tops off of Appalachian peaks, some of the earth's oldest, to harvest the valuable coal seams contained inside. The toxic runoff created by the blast is then directed into valleys at the base of the sheared mountains, often with devastating environmental consequences for nearby communities.
That doesn't sound good. Why is it legal?The method is a safer and cheaper way to harvest coal than underground operations that have led to deadly US mining disasters in two states during the past year. So the coal industry has fought for the most liberal regulations possible, and the Bush administration has obliged with a series of mountaintop-removal rules that even some Republicans believe bend the law.
Has the damage extended beyond the Appalachian region?Yes, in a sense. Mountaintop-removal is largely practiced in the states of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. Estimates show that 724 miles of streams were suffocated with the resulting coal runoff as of 2001, a number the Bush administration expects to double in the next 10 years. The human cost is more difficult to measure, with local residents being forced from their homes and sickened as time goes on.
Yet electricity generated from mountaintop-removal coal is fed into the overall US grid, so it is impossible to know for sure whether customers in New York and other eastern states are consuming power derived from the practice.
Where do the presidential candidates stand?Barack Obama publicly criticised mountaintop removals during a campaign speech last August in Kentucky, winning applause as he proclaimed, "We're tearing up the Appalachian mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuels." But he disappointed environmentalists by not condemning the practice while campaigning in the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries, which he lost by large margins to Hillary Clinton.
Hailing from a coal-producing state, Obama has also touted the potential of "clean coal" through sequestration of carbon emissions despite the lack of progress in realistically developing that technique.
Republican nominee John McCain has joined Obama in proposing mandatory emissions controls that would theoretically affect coal-fired power plants. He has made no comment on mountaintop removal this campaign season, according to public records.
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