Central Appalachia flatter due to mountaintop mining

[n2doc]

Forty years of mountaintop coal mining have made parts of Central Appalachia 60 percent flatter than they were before excavation, says new research by Duke University.

The study, which compares pre- and post-mining topographic data in southern West Virginia, is the first to examine the regional impact of mountaintop mines on landscape topography and how the changes might influence water quality.

"There hasn't been a large-scale assessment of just the simple full topographic impact of mountaintop mining, which occupies more than 10 percent of the land in the region we studied," said Matthew Ross, an ecology PhD student and lead author on the study.

"[We found] the impact is deep and extensive," Ross said. "It is locally large and more wide-ranging than other forms of mining." The study is published online in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

more
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160205134955.htm

[angstlessk]

1. Who sits around a conference table

(perhaps made of endangered or even illegal wood products) to think of best ways to extract coal, and comes up with idea of the eradication the mountains of West Virginia?

Which will probably ruin rivers and streams, fish and wildlife, water quality to the residents, and give a few jobs to some impoverished folk?

Is satan at the table?

[Duppers]

3. Satan is at the table, indeed.

Great metaphor!

[Duppers]

2. Thank you! This atrocity needs attention.

?itok=f0n71t7S

Earthjustice.org is one of a few orgs trying hard to fight this crime.

So is the NRDC.

Please check out this one, please...
http://appvoices.org/end-mountaintop-removal/

I donate to these folks.


Thank you n2doc for posting and bringing attention to this.