I was reading an article online about mountaintop removal for coal mining. This article made me realize even more how awful this practice really is. According to the article, mountaintop removal leveled 20% of the peaks in the southern Appalachian mountains and buried 1,200 miles of stream in contamination. In addition, mountaintop removal is not good for local economies, as it has replaced 80% of the coalfield employment that was present in the 1950s.

The more disturbing part of mountaintop removal is the tsunami element, which I had never heard of before I read this article. One would think that places like West Virginia would be safe from a tsunami-type event, yet this is not so. The difference is that the tsunami we're talking about in coal mining country is a man-made disaster, involving coal sludge rather than water. Such was the case in 1972 when a slurry dam broke, resulting in 132 million gallons of black waste water into Buffalo Creek, West Virginia. 125 people were killed, 1,100 people were injured and 4,000 people were left homeless. I had never heard of this disaster and why is that? Is the coal industry avoiding these types of disasters from getting into the history books? In any event, it is time that we realize that practices like mountaintop removal may be easier than mining by hand, but they can destroy surrounding areas and that lives of residents who live down the mountain. Is this the way people should have to live, just because they decided years ago to reside in or near the Appalachian mountains? Since we can't replace mountains like these, don't they deserve a little more respect?