As U.S. Energy Companies Blow-Up Appalachian Mountaintops, the Nation's Lawmakers Yawn With Indifference ---
"West Virginia is the template for what happens when corporations take over democracy." ~ Environmental Activist Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Charleston, W. Va. -- Ever wondered what would happen if an invading power suddenly attacked the gorgeous, summer-green mountains of Appalachia with massive bombs that together equaled the explosive power of the Hiroshima A-bomb, each and every week?
Amazingly enough, that stark scenario is happening right now in West Virginia, with hardly a whimper of protest from federal government regulators or the state politicians in Charleston.
During the past ten years, in fact, mountaintops all across Appalachia have been blowing up one after another, creating rock-strewn "moonscapes" which now include more square miles than those contained in the entire State of Delaware.
Fact: As of July 1, 2011, more than 500 Appalachian mountaintops have been destroyed by these bombers... who are now using more than 3 million pounds of explosives each day in West Virginia alone.
An environmental catastrophe? You bet it is. Hour by hour and day by day, we're witnessing the ongoing destruction of our oldest and perhaps most beautiful mountain chain. And yet most of our politicians -- along with most of our news media -- seem to be totally unconcerned about the bombing campaign against America.
Maybe that's because the "invading powers" now blasting away at the steep ridgelines of West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky aren't foreign countries, after all.
They're actually giant U.S. energy companies -- hugely powerful industries that long ago became accustomed to dictating energy policy in Washington D.C. and in the state capitals of Appalachia.
How bad is the wholesale destruction now being caused by the ruthless bombing-and-digging technique known as "mountaintop removal mining," all across the once-forested and once-life-abundant region that was America's first frontier?
To answer that question, you only have to look at the most recent data from the state and federal environmental agencies. Those data show how hundreds of surface-mining sites located along the Appalachian range have been attacked with high explosives in recent years... so that mega-sized mining machines can go in later and scoop up the coal and then hustle it off to market.
"What they're doing is illegal," says environmental activist Robert Kennedy, Jr., a longtime opponent of Appalachian mountaintop mining as practiced by companies like Massey and Pittston. "If you blew up a mountain in the Berkshires or the Catskills or California or Utah, you would go to jail."
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