Plundering Appalachia - The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Coal Mining

In the Sierras, they climb them. In the Rockies, they ski them. In Appalachia, they level them.

Coal isn't clean, and it's definitely not cheap. Across the Appalachians, companies are blowing entire mountaintops to smithereens to get at the thin coal seams below. The communities of the region are paying the cost in their health, their culture and their natural heritage.

Mining companies are clear cutting thousands of acres of some of the world's most biologically diverse forests. They're filling local rivers and streams with blasted debris, polluting drinking water with toxic waste and sacrificing the safety and sanctity of countless communities.

Mountaintop removal mining is not just devastating the region's environment and quality of life. It is also steadily crushing the heart of Appalachia.

Big coal companies should not be allowed to turn our nations' oldest mountains into molehills, and NRDC is working with local allies to halt this damaging practice. Laws must change, environmental regulations must be enforced, corporations must reform their practices, and legal action must be taken to stop the most ecologically and culturally destructive form of strip mining on earth.

You can help today by urging Congress to reverse a Bush administration rule that allows mining companies to legally dump waste into mountain streams.

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