Policy Solutions: Reports & Issue Papers

All Reports & Issue Papers Tagged mountaintop removal mining

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Destroys Communities

Fact Sheet

Mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining is one of the world’s most destructive practices for extracting fossil fuels. This extreme method of strip mining is scarring the landscape and threatening communities. All across Central Appalachia -- between the hollows of West Virginia, bordering the Blue Ridge of Virginia, beyond the bluegrass of Kentucky, and above the smoky vistas of Tennessee -- companies are tearing down mountains to access the coal below. In the process they are clear-cutting miles of forests, filling the rivers with coal mining waste, polluting the waters with toxic runoff, and sacrificing the safety of the people who call this region home. MTR coal mining sites, which can exceed 10 square miles, have already leveled more than 500 summits so far. Get document in pdf.

Appalachian Heartbreak: Time to End Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Issue Paper

Coal is America's dirtiest energy source -- and the country's leading source of global warming pollution. Pollution from coal plants produces dirty air, acid rain, and contaminated land and water. Nowhere is the debate over how far we are willing to go for inexpensive energy more contentious than in the coalfields of Appalachia, where mining companies are blowing up America's oldest mountains to get the coal beneath the peaks.

There Is No Such Thing as "Clean Coal"
Coal Mining Can Have Disastrous Impacts on Human Health and the Environment

Fact Sheet

Coal mining has serious impacts on our health and the environment. Clean energy options such as energy efficiency can meet energy demands without the dangerous effects of coal. Get document in pdf.