From: Center for Biological Diversity
Published November 5, 2009 09:30 AM
Coal Company Destroys Last Intact Mountain in Coal
River Valley
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- A subsidiary of Massey Energy has begun
mountaintop-removal coal-mining operations on Coal River Mountain in
West Virginia, the only peak in Coal River Valley that hasn't been
blasted away for mining. Blasting for the mine is taking place 200 yards
from the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment, which holds 8 billion
gallons of toxic coal sludge above the Coal River community. Local and
national conservation organizations including the Center for Biological
Diversity are asking the Environmental Protection Agency and the White
House to halt the mining operation.
"It is just plain wrong to blow up the last mountain in Coal River
Valley and to jeopardize the lives of the people living below the slurry
dam. The federal government should intervene and protect this
community," said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center.
Citizens are concerned that blasting could weaken or breach the slurry
dam. A coal slurry impoundment owned by a Massey subsidiary failed in
2000, spilling more than 300 million gallons of toxic slurry into the
Big Sandy River in Martin County, Kentucky. In 1972, 125 people were
killed by a 132-million-gallon slurry spill in Logan County, West
Virginia.
At 3,300 feet, Coal River Mountain is the tallest mountain ever to
undergo mountaintop-removal mining. Massey Energy plans to blast away
6,600 acres of the mountain and fill in18 streams with toxic mining
waste. Mountaintop-removal coal mining has already destroyed 500
mountains, more than 1 million acres of hardwood forest, and more than
1,200 miles of streams in Appalachia.
Contact Info: Tierra Curry, (928) 522-3681
Website :
Center
for Biological Diversity
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