Target: Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Goal: Reject mountaintop removal for coal extraction in the Ison Rock Ridge.
Residents of a southwest mining town are not happy about plans to implement the controversial technique of mountaintop mining on their Ison Rock Ridge. This practice employs simply that. By blasting off the peak of a mountain, it would provide easy access to the valuable resources that lie within.
In the case of Ison Rock Ridge, A&G Coal Mining Company has proposed a plan for a surface mine which would take up 1200 square miles of the Ison Rock Ridge of the area known as The Big Stone Gap. Apart from the physical damage done to the area, local residents also have to worry about toxic runoff that pollutes entire areas of water supply, and possible deaths due to company negligence as was the case of 3-year-old Jeremy Davidson.
Residents of Wise County have been protesting the plans of surface mining in their community since 2007 when an A&G permit was approved by the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers have since placed a hold on the permit while it awaits review on what they see to be a violation of the Clean Water Act.
“If this permit is approved, we will only see an increase in the already-devastating health impacts on our people as [a] result of mountaintop removal coal mining…Our people are dying from the pollution in the water and air and the EPA is the only agency that is willing to take a stand to protect us,” pleaded Jane Branham, vice-president of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
While the motion remains pending, the only hope for this natural wonder, and the people who call it home, is that this permit will be denied and the Ison Rock Ridge will be protected.
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