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I’ve been meaning to update the readers of this site on a few huge issues in the US that are still extremely under represented. Please pass this post on by using the Share This feature or by Digging it.

First is the continuing struggle against the devastating practice of mountain top removal mining in the US and abroad. The people at Appalachian Voices and KFTC put out this impressive and highly educational virtual flyover of MTR sites in Eastern Kentucky. I am mostly posting this for the readers and friends who tune into the BSB Blog from outside Kentucky or Virginia or who have little-to-no idea what kind of impact mountain top removal has on people in this part of the country. The video, however, is informative to pretty much everybody, regardless of how well they are informed. Here it is:

Virtual flyover of mountaintop removal sites from KFTC Staff on Vimeo.

Secondly, there is a bill called the Stream Saver Bill that was drafted three years ago. It was designed to put an end to the dumping of mining waste into headwater streams, one of the more damaging aspects of this type of mining. This bill (House Bill 164) has been on hold in the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee since it’s inception without once being heard.

The chair of the committee, Rep. Gooch from Providence, Kentucky, has refused for those three years to bring it forward for discussion, recently saying that there has been no public outcry regarding the mining process. (The following Saturday the Lexington-Herald published over a dozen of the sixty-plus letters received by citizens outraged by his statments.) I could repeat everything that is already said by KFTC about it, but instead I urge you to read this.

However, the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee has now heard the bill from both the coal-industry side (who call it an “anti-mining bill”, which it is not) and from many concerned citizens (who call it long over due.) By the time the hearing was over yesterday, some of the committee members had left, leaving the vote pending until a Monday morning vote.

There is no reason to be a Kentuckian or Virginian to lend a hand. After all the coal blasted from the mountains in Kentucky powers the lights in New York, California, Arkansas and elsewhere, making this bill a national issue. If you’d like to see just how you’re connected to the coal problem and this bill, go to the ilovemountains site or enter your zip code in the box below. Or better yet, inform someone else (your parents, brother or co-worker, whoever) about where their power comes from. Just enter their zip code and see just how much we’re all connected to mountain top removal.

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