Coal mining with mountaintop removal

The iconic Appalachian coal producing state of West Virginia has soldiered through the most intense series of bombings in US history. The dust has not settled yet, but the winner is…maybe solar power? That’s a mighty big maybe, but state policy makers are finally beginning to realize that mining for coal by flattening hundreds of pristine mountaintops with explosives is perhaps not the best strategy for long term economic growth.

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

It’s been a while since mountaintop removal coal mining has crossed the CleanTechnica radar. The practice — literally, blowing the tops off virgin mountains to reach coal seams close to the surface — was relatively uncommon until recent years.

The Obama administration tried to clamp down on mountaintop mining, partly through new Department of the Interior rules that would prevent miners from using adjacent streams and valleys to dump the rubble from mountaintop removal. However, the rules weren’t finalized until 2017. That was just in time for the newly minted Commander-in-Chief* to sign new legislation reverting the status quo back to […]