Mountaintop Removal

"Forests are clear–cut and undergrowth removed. Explosives are used to reduce to rubble over 500 feet from the tops of mountains. The rubble is scooped up and dumped into nearby valleys and sludge ponds are created to hold in the waste coal sludge. This practice poisons waterways downstream destroys wildlife habitat increases run-off, erosion and flooding and erases entire communities. The EPA estimates that by 2005 mountaintop removal had buried and contaminated more than 1200 miles of streams in Appalachia and by 2013 a forested area the size of Delaware will have been destroyed."

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Switch to alternative energy sources such as solar or wind. Petition local and state representatives to stop mountaintop destruction.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Visit Mountain Justice and I Love Mountains.