Coal River Mountain in the Crosshairs

It took over 300 million years for the Appalachian mountains to form. But apparently it only takes a few years to flatten one.
 
And that’s just what rapacious coal companies have been doing to hundreds of mountaintops over the past decade throughout Appalachia – illegally, of course, but with the tacit blessing of the Bush administration.
 
The latest mountain to find itself in the crosshairs is West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.
 
The Massey Energy Corporation, one of the nation’s worst offenders when it comes to environmentally destructive practices, is pulling out all the stops to start blasting Coal River Mountain. The company’s proposed 10-square-mile mountaintop removal coal mining operation would devastate the last intact mountain within a 50-square-mile area in northwest Raleigh County.
 
As the name implies, mountaintop removal mining destroys mountains to acquire the coal below. It releases heavy metals and sediment into valleys and streams; destroys croplands, pastures, and forests; generates toxic wastes; and leaves billions of dollars in cleanup costs that are rarely effective or fully paid. The pollution generated by this mining can persist for centuries, threatening entire communities, killing fish, vegetation and wildlife, and permanently harming the ecology of the region.
 
What makes the situation with Coal River Mountain even more appalling is that leveling this particular mountain will deprive the community of one the state's best potential locations for a cleaner alternative: wind power. That's right, a wind farm there not only would save the mountain but also produce jobs. In fact, studies commissioned for the Coal River Wind Project show that this site has enough wind potential to provide electricity for more than 150,000 homes, and would generate approximately 50 well-paying, 21st Century permanent jobs for West Virginians in the region.
 
The folks in West Virginia are rallying to save Coal River Mountain, and you can help. Send a message right away urging Governor Manchin to stop the Massey mountaintop removal operation and to act on his commitment to renewable energy by permanently rescinding Massey's permits for the Coal River Mountain mining operations.
 
At a time when more and more Americans are looking to declare our nation’s independence from dirty energy, it's an outrage to think that one company – driven by short-term profit – can get away with wiping a majestic mountain off the face of the earth for a rock that heats up our planet when burned.
 
Clean, renewable energy is not just the path for our future, it’s already here. And with your help, we may yet be able to harness the power of the wind on top of Coal River Mountain.