They dump it into the few remaining creeks!?! As if it wouldn't be already enough damage to carve away the mountaintops, which have a crucial importance on rainwater infiltration to groundwater reservoirs and streams aswell as beeing a division between river basins. They cause an entire chain reaction of environmental desasters. This areas will also get very vulnerable to erosion and land slide - soil is destroyed and sediments are washed into the rivers. Trouts and other fish parish..
I am from Kentucky and have seen first hand how the water supply for thousands of people in my state is threatened. Cancer rates are higher in these areas than anywhere else in the state and lung disease is not far behind. Clean water is not a privilege. It’s a basic human right. We can not afford to sit by while human life is jeopardized for a dollar.
No they don’t. There’s hundreds, literally thousands of laws and regulations against exact stuff like that. Both mining and environmental laws. And every top of a mountain they remove, they simply dump and basically move it and create new mountains. Then they LEGALLY have to come back and replant all that nature, called reclaiming, and they’re reclaiming the land at the same time they’re mining it.
@@ahyes7499lol you act as tho large sums of money funneled to governing bodies doesn’t have a say in what’s truly legal or not. You know just like it doesn’t in every other sector of government….
Yet, no one says a word when the Central Florida hills are decimated like this. The only difference is, those areas wont be reclaimed. They turn into permanent seas of subdivisions.
I'm opposed to both. And reclamation is a fallacy, have you ever visited the "reclaimed" mountains? Even after a decade or two, it's still just rocks and dust, with legally mandated "sprayed on" grass. The large, old growth trees will not return for thousands of years, if they ever do. The wildlife is gone. There is no dirt for roots to hold onto. There is no food for animals to eat. The "reclaimed" mountains may as well be parking lots.
Ethan Davenport those ways to make power arnt feasible. 7 % comes from all that ..33% comes from coal and natural gas ...but deff no more mtr I love my mountain state and what to keep my job ..and u can't say it's to dirty bc what happens when a volcano erupts
John Kosky In this case it's different. I understand what you're saying about the effect of volcanic eruptions, but those eruptions are a natural part of life and some organisms actually depend on them. Mining however introduces a whole new type of pollution, and is unnatural and can permanently ruin an ecosystem like that. I took a course on environmental science so I'm just using what I learned.
I'm not usually of the mindset that we should ban entire industrial processes. I usually take the view that if we need the production, there's better ways to do it. This though...this I'd ban from existence in a second. The damage this technique causes is just obscene.
There's no replacing top soil. The fill they come and dump doesn't sustain life. If they carted in millions of tonnes of soil, maybe you'd have a point, but A) that would cut into their profits and B) where would they get all that soil?
@@idakoric516 not all plants need the same amount of top soil to thrive. start small, generations of dead plants generate more and more top soil for different plants to start growing from. wind and water bring in all kinds of important stuff, these mines dont just exist in a vacuum. we've had similar ones around where i live and now a lush young forest's growing there. sure, it's all pretty flat, but at my age you'll be happy that you dont have to climb mountains to cool off in a forest in summer. and all the while it generated a ton of work and therefore the livelihood for countless people, dreams fulfilled, families supported and from the materials countless things were built. as a kid i snuck in and stole some flat stones to skip over the local lake. if you ask me, mining (incl wood felling) along with farming (incl fishing) are the two most basic and therefore important and honorable industrial sectors that exist. saving lives as a doctor is great, dont get me wrong, but how do you get your metal for your scalpels? mined iron ore. the food for the sick? farming. the cement for the hospital? mining. all the extremely expensive medical gear with their innumerable alloys? mining. obv there are extra steps inbetween and therefore the entire industrial complex is important, but it really all starts with man picking up rocks and food, later digging for the right rocks and creating the best kinds of food.
Just imagine building thousands of trailers in the mountains of Southern West Virginia we need more mobile homes in southern West Virginia we need more trailers in southern West Virginia Appalachian mountains we need to build apartment complexes in Appalachian mountains
Born and raised in Eastern Kentucky. After having read many of the comments and watching this video twice, I ask you one favor. Look up "Reclaimed coal mine land" before you condemn the coal mines and miners. It's easy to stand on the outside looking in and point a finger. Especially when your not given the whole story. Just the first half.
That "reclaimed land" looks nothing like it once did. Millions of centuries old" old growth trees destroyed. Entire habitats destroyed, streams and creekss blocked and polluted, valleys filled with rubble. It does not make up for the destruction of this type of mining in any way.
@@Effdeecompositions1516 I'm sorry but I feel very differently. If you have lived somewhere with plenty of flat ground for a home or business all your life, it's easy to take for granted. I love the hills, "hollers", and creeks very much. But I need a way to make a living too. They don't build factory's, schools, and home's on mountain sides. And there isn't coal under every mountain either.
We need more bridges in interstates in southern West Virginia we need more bridges in interstates in Beckley West Virginia we need more bridges in interstates and Princeton West Virginia we need more bridges in interstates and Bluefield West Virginia
We need more bridges in interstates in Princeton West Virginia we need more bridges in interstates in bluefield West Virginia and we need more bridges in interstates in Beckley West Virginia
We need more apartment complexes in Beckley West Virginia and mobile homes and trailers we need more trailers in Princeton West Virginia we need more trailers in bluefield West Virginia or mobile homes
We need more bridges interstates and highways in bluefield West Virginia we need more bridges interstates and highways in Princeton West Virginia we need more bridges interstates and highways and bridges in Beckley West Virginia we need more bridges interstates and highways in Princeton West Virginia
We need more flat land at highways and interstates in bluefield West Virginia Princeton West Virginia Beckley West Virginia West Virginia needs more interstates and bridges West Virginia needs more highways
Wow!! That was nice!! Wish they were still working. Mines like that made the local people rich by providing great paying jobs, selling goods to the company and the employees, etc. The value was endless to local economies!!!!
These companies are also claiming bankruptcy to avoid the cleanup costs of the waste they produce, forcing local communities to take on the repercussions of that waste. They make all that money but can't take any from their pockets to honor their responsibilities they had agreed to.
That's Just Trumpian Jackassery. They are Ruining the natural beauty of W. Virginia (and Other States) and mining a Dirty Fuel. Green Energy and even Nuclear Power plants have their place. I hope we have Fusion someday.
We need to build sidewalks we need a sidewalk that'll go from Princeton West Virginia all the way to bluefield West Virginia we need to build sidewalks into these mountains Appalachian mountains if people want to walk
