A mountaintop removal coal mine encroaching on a small community in West Virginia. (Photo by Vivian Stockman / ohvec.org, flyover thanks to SouthWings)
Environmentalists are praising a court ruling that makes blasting the tops off mountains to extract coal illegal in most cases. Fred Kight reports:
Transcript
Environmentalists are praising a court ruling that makes blasting the
tops off mountains to extract coal illegal in most cases. Fred Kight reports:
Mountaintop removal coal mining is less expensive and safer than
underground mining, so coal companies have been using it more often.
But environmental groups oppose mountaintop removal because it damages
mountains and surrounding valleys, and Joe Lovett with the Appalachian
Center for the Economy and the Environment says in most cases, it’s
against federal law:
“I’m saying that it will be much less common because Congress intended
mountaintop removal mines to be the exception rather than the rule.”
Recently, a judge agreed, at least with cases involving four mines in
West Virginia. The judge ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated
federal law by failing to adequately determine whether the environment
would be harmed. Lovett anticipates an appeal of the ruling.
For the Environment Report, I’m Fred Kight.