Mountain top mining operations in the central Appalachian mountains stole a brief moment for consideration at Thursday's Gainesville Regional Utilities' budget meeting.
"I personally have an ethical problem with the coal that we're using now," said City Commissioner Lauren Poe. "There are a mass of externalities associated with (mountain top mining) in both the environmental cost and social costs. As we're able to transition away from that coal there are costs that we will be avoiding that don't necessarily show up in the bottom line of our GRU budget every year."
Karen Alford, who handles energy supply, said that a portion of the coal GRU receives from the mountain range predominately located in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee is mountain top removal coal.
Commissioner Craig Lowe said he was surprised to hear that some of GRU's coal was mountain top removal given assurances from previous GRU leadership that it was not.
"That is a very devastating process for the environment where we are getting the coal from," Lowe said.
The City Commission voted unanimously to send the item to committee for consideration.
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