Congressmen fly over mountaintop mining sites

Tag : surface dust remover
Two congressmen who flew over dozens of mountaintopmining sites Friday said they were struck by the magnitude of themining operations.
U.S. representative Ben Chandler, of Kentucky, and Norm Dicks, ofWashington, spoke with residents living deep in the centralAppalachian coalfields after landing here in what they described asa “fact-finding trip” that surveyed sites in EasternKentucky and West Virginia.
Dicks chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that overseesenvironmental matters, giving him power over the budget of theOffice of Surface Mining. It is the first time a member of Congressin such a position has come to Kentucky to view large-scale surfacemining and meet with opponents.
Dicks, who seemed surprised at the vastness of the mined land, saidthat mountaintop removal might need to be reigned in. He made thetrip after repeated requests from Chandler, a fellow Democrat onthe subcommittee.
“The amount of land that has been mined was quitesubstantial,” Dicks said moments after getting off the planeFriday at the Wendell H. Ford Airport in Perry County. “Inour state we have very large clear-cuts and these were of evengreater magnitude than those. I do think the question ofsustainability comes up and what the consequences or the impact ofthis is on the environment.”
Dicks, who has served in congress for 32 years, said he will takethe information from Friday's visit back to Washington.
On board with the two congressmen were the director of the Officeof Surface Mining and a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth,a group that opposes mountaintop removal mining.
Reigning in mining?
Mountaintop removal uses explosives and heavy equipment to take offthe tops of mountains to expose coal seams. However, opponents usethe term to include other forms of surface mining such as areamining. That involves blasting away only part of the mountain butcreates similar issues, including filling adjacent valleys andwaterways with excess rock and dirt, which opponents argue damagesthe environment.
The coal industry defends large-scale surface mining as the mosteconomical way, the only way, at times, to recover some coal.
Dicks said lawmakers may need to look at reigning in mountaintopmining, just as they did in the northwest with clear-cutting, aprocess where a large section of trees in a forest are cut down andthe trees are sold for use.
“We had clear-cutting of these very large areas and we foundit was doing a lot of environmental damage,” Dicks said.“So we made the clear-cuts more discrete and we protectedareas that were important to the environment.”
Dicks said his subcommittee will look at whether the OSM is doingits job adequately, and whether it has the money and staff to carryout its duties.
Friday's visit was the second attempt by the congressmen to flyover mountaintop mining sites.
Earlier this month, they were forced to cancel their trip becausethe battery was dead on the plane they were to use.
Although Chandler said bringing Dicks to Appalachia was a toppriority, he was reluctant to say Friday what his feelings areabout restricting mountaintop mining. He said only that he was“concerned” about its effects on the environment.
“This is the first chance we've had to have a look atit,” Chandler said. “The main purpose in my mind todaywas to introduce the chairman of our committee to this process andwhat was occurring. We are going to be involved as it goes forwardand we are going to take into consideration all viewpoints.”
After Friday's flyover, the congressmen took a bus tour led byInternational Coal Group Inc. of an active mining site inMontgomery Creek in Perry County. ICG is a leading producer of coalin Northern and Central Appalachia with both underground andsurfice mines. ICG officials denied a request by the Herald-Leaderto accompany the congressmen on the tour and declined to comment onit.
Damage to ecosystem
Several residents and members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealthgathered at the Hazard airport to share their experiences and speakto the congressmen.
They fight the practice mostly because of the destruction they sayit brings.
As miners blast away mountaintops and dump leftover debris inneighboring valleys — often burying natural streams —they pollute and destroy a diverse ecosystem that can never bereplaced, they said Friday.
Those who live in communities where clunky coal trucks wind downroads at all hours and miners blast away at seams miles atopmountains, said they are tired of the thick, sticky dust that coatstheir gardens and their lungs. The blasting shakes and sometimescauses cracks in their homes and has been known to change theunderground landscape, polluting water wells or causing them to godry. Deep in the mountains, city water is not available to many.
“We think it speaks to how serious the problem has becomethat Congressman Chandler and Chairman Dicks have made the tripfrom Washington to see for themselves how pervasive the abuse bythe mine industry has become on Kentucky's mountains, forests andstreams and the people,“ said Doug Doerrfeld, chairman ofKentuckians for the Commonwealth. “We hope this leads to anongoing conversation and more fact finding.”
Sara Pennington, a KFTC member from Knott County, says she hopesthe visit leads to the passage of the Clean Water Protection Act inWashington and the passage of the Stream Saver bill during the nextKentucky General Assembly session. Chandler and Dicks are sponsorsof both.
Pennington, who flew with the congressmen over the mining sites,says she is hopeful Chandler and Dicks will use their influence torestrict mountaintop removal and protect the environment.
“Chandler brought Dicks here because he wanted him to see themagnitude of it,” she said.
‘Better than before'
Among the sites the congressmen viewed were the Thunder Ridge Minein Hoskinston in Leslie County, as well as Linwood Pond, a hugeblack-water pond that holds sludge _the waste from washing coal.
They also flew over several commercial areas in Hazard – suchas the hospital, airport, Wal-Mart, Lowes and the National GuardArmory, all of which have been built on former mining sites.
Industry officials pointed to those sites as examples of how miningcreates flat land in an area where there is little of it availablefor development outside flood-prone areas.
In addition, industry officials and supporters say mining createsjobs in areas where there are not many others.
Bernie Faulkner, 60, of Hazard, said that mountaintop mining gets abad name from the media and others who seem to focus only on activemining sites. Faulkner was among only a couple of Appalachianresidents who support coal to come to the airport Friday to meetthe congressmen. He brought with him photos of reclaimed miningsites and animals on those sites.
“We all agree that active mining can be ugly,” Faulknersaid. ”It's like an open heart on the table during surgery,but what they put it back to is, in some cases, better and morebeautiful than before.“
Faulkner says former mining sites have led to great adventuretourism opportunities for Eastern Kentucky, noting the popularhorseback riding and all-terrain vehicle trails in Knott County andelsewhere that were created on former mountaintop mining sites.