Appalachian Mountains in Trouble

So basically, individual mountains in the Appalachian Mountain chain are being clear cut and burned. Then the top layers of rock are blown off so that the thinner layer of coal can be extracted and then burned for electricity. This repeats downward to reach more layers of coal.

Here are the implications:
1. Mountains are being blown to pieces, effectively ruining the oldest mountains, taking off as much as 800 feet of elevation, and completely leveling them off = no skiing on them
2. The rock that gets blown up (and isn't wanted) is being pushed into the valleys which is where the communities are located and the water resources are also located. This pollutes the water quality tremendously
3. The coal that is extracted needs to be washed so the dirty water after this process (coal sludge) is pumped into a 72-acre slurry"pond". These have broken in the past and have killed people, as well as polluted rivers completely.
4. The sludge and waste release toxic chemicals from the rocks into our drinking water
5. This form of mining employs fewer people than traditional "under the mountain" mining, so it really isn't helping the economy - which is one of the poorest in our nation.
6. The blasting disrupts water tables, makes people breathe in coal dust and has increased the flooding rates by 3 -5 times the normal amount because the trees and ecosystem can no longer absorb the plentiful rain, instead it runs off the hard rock down to the valleys, where the communities are.
7. Completely ruining the value of people's land who live here.
8. The coal that is extracted from this method only account for 4% of our nation's electricity. For a mere 4% of our electricity these companies have ruined 500 mountain tops and 2,000 miles of waterways already, and they are not stopping, because there are no laws that are making them stop and a few people are getting very very rich, at the expense of almost everyone else.

Write to your senators and encourage them to become a cosponsor of The Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696 is the bill number).
This act is "a simple piece of legislation that restores the original intent of the Clean Water Act to clarity that fill material connot be comprised of mining waste. passing this legislation would protect all the nation's rivers, streams, and lakes from being used as garbage dumps for mining waste. It would also help end the destruction of the Appalachian Mountians" So it says the Mining companies can't put the "waste rock" into the valleys and this would essentially end this method because it is too expensive to do this any other way.

Handwritten letters are better than email. Go to congress.org to get the local district office address for your member of Congress (this is better than their DC address, which it takes them much longer to receive those letters due to security.)