Congressmen fly over mountaintop mining sites

[DogPoundPup]

U.S. representative Ben Chandler, of Kentucky, and Norm Dicks, of Washington, spoke with residents living deep in the central Appalachian coalfields after landing here in what they described as a “fact-finding trip” that surveyed sites in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.

Dicks chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees environmental matters, giving him power over the budget of the Office of Surface Mining. It is the first time a member of Congress in such a position has come to Kentucky to view large-scale surface mining and meet with opponents.

Dicks, who seemed surprised at the vastness of the mined land, said that mountaintop removal might need to be reigned in. He made the trip after repeated requests from Chandler, a fellow Democrat on the subcommittee.

“The amount of land that has been mined was quite substantial,” Dicks said moments after getting off the plane Friday at the Wendell H. Ford Airport in Perry County. “In our state we have very large clear-cuts and these were of even greater magnitude than those. I do think the question of sustainability comes up and what the consequences or the impact of this is on the environment.”

Dicks, who has served in congress for 32 years, said he will take the information from Friday's visit back to Washington.

On board with the two congressmen were the director of the Office of 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 off the tops of mountains to expose coal seams. However, opponents use the term to include other forms of surface mining such as area mining. That involves blasting away only part of the mountain but creates similar issues, including filling adjacent valleys and waterways with excess rock and dirt, which opponents argue damages the environment.

The coal industry defends large-scale surface mining as the most economical way, the only way, at times, to recover some coal.

Dicks said lawmakers may need to look at reigning in mountaintop mining, just as they did in the northwest with clear-cutting, a process where a large section of trees in a forest are cut down and the trees are sold for use.

“We had clear-cutting of these very large areas and we found it was doing a lot of environmental damage,” Dicks said. “So we made the clear-cuts more discrete and we protected areas that were important to the environment.”

If interested, there is much more to read at http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/471334.html

[Champion Jack]

1. "might need to be reigned in..." ? Yeah, you dumbass, do the job you're paid for

[kgrandia]

2. Derrrrrrrrrr

What? They're blowing up mountains in Appalachia - der, really. Maybe, um, that ain't so good.

"Dicks, who has served in congress for 32 years, said he will take the information from Friday's visit back to Washington."

Really? Thanks Dicks, West Virginia is only about 200 miles from DC. Didn't you notice the massive open pits from your plane seat in business class?

[Monk06]

3. This type of mining practice would never be allowed in Canada or

even the majority of so called third world
countries. China's coal mines are less
environmentally destructive.

By the time this practice is stopped Appalachia
will be a moon scape. It will be impossible
to economically convert the land around these
mine sites to other uses. Rehabilitating the
land will just be too expensive.

[hatrack]

4. I hate to say this, but what do you think is going on right now in the tar sands region?

Just asking . . .

[stuntcat]

5. those mountains..

it's the most beautiful place in the whole world to me. It's obviously a dirty sin to blow up those olds hills for a little energy that will take a few days to burn out. I can't believe anyone let this start in the first place.