Coal, coal coal...

Coal has one check mark in the good column and many in the bad column and a few in the worst column. Allow me to explain.

First lets get the easy one out of the way, coal is a source of energy, so much for the good.

Now for the bad. Coal is by far the most destructive energy source to our environment. Everything about from from the way it is mined to the way it is cleaned to the way it is burned. If you have had the opportunity to see any number of advertisements about "clean coal" by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity or by Americas Power don't believe a word they say. Here is the truth to this whole campaign claiming that "clean coal" is our answer to the energy crisis. Yes, we have enough coal to power this country for a long time, that is the only true statement made. There is no such thing as "clean coal". Coal is mined mainly by strip mining and mountain top removal. In the Appellation mountains in West Virginia and the surrounding states incomprehensible damage is being done, mountains are being torn down, valleys filled with the debris, water tables and wells are contaminated to a lever unseen since Love Canal. People are dying. Don't believe me, check it out for yourself. The same thing is happening anywhere there is "surface mining" for coal. 

The coal industry is doing everything it can to cover up what should be criminal activity and spending millions in Washington to make sure it is not. If you or I did anything remotely as damaging and got caught I can assure you we would be at the very least paying huge fines and probably be in jail. For example...

Mountain top removal mining.

This is exactly what it describes. The coal companies are removing the tops of mountains to get to the coal because it is cheaper then then underground mining. Some would argue that it is safer then underground mining however it is considerably more damaging and in the long run overall is far more hazardous. They take the debris and dump it into the valleys destroying what took millions of years to create. Any reasonable person understands the delicate balance, this is the total destruction of that balance. They are changing the natural water flows causing flooding where it never happened before. 

The coal companies claim that they are "reclaiming" the land by terracing the landscape and planting grass on rock. All the top soil is of course gone and it will take hundreds to thousands of years for that to come back. From forest to weeds. They also claim that they are creating flat land for "better use". If you have ever been to the Appellation Mountains and the deserts of Arizona and Nevada and seen their natural beauty, at least what's left you would understand just how pathetic a statement that is. Strip mining and mountain top removal is pure evil, I don't what better way to describe it.

Coal slurry injection.

This is the process for doing away with the the by product created from "washing" the coal, part of the process used to prepare the coal for burning. The by product is then held behind earthen dams in coal sludge impoundments and/or injected into abandoned underground mines by the billions of gallons. Here is what is in coal slurry.

Needless to say, if it goes in the ground, it gets into what's in the ground and what's in the ground is water. water that people use everyday for drinking, cooking, cleaning.

This is not only happening in the Appellations, it is also happening in other parts of the country and believe it or not with more devastating effects.

In Arizona and Nevada the Navajo and Hopi Indians have been forced off their land, their basic rights violated, their religious sites desecrated and their religious practices repressed not to mention the ground water contamination and strip mining itself all in the name of "clean coal". Please go to the Clean Green Productions  website for more information on the Black Mesa and Big Mountain tragedies.

There is an enormous negative impact on the entire area both for the environment and the people that live there. The coal companies deny everything, and defend themselves with lies and propaganda. They will tell people that the environmentalists want to take peoples jobs away and that is also a lie. The fact is that 40 years ago in West Virginia there were 150,000 jobs in the coal industry, now there are only 15,000 and more coal is being mined everyday then ever before in our history. Bottom line, the coal companies are taking away jobs where the environmentalists are opening doors to new jobs in new cleaner greener energy technologies.

Below are some videos and images that you might find interesting.