About Us

WHAT IS MOUNTAINTOP MINING?

MOUNTAINTOP MINING is simply coal mining that occurs at or near the topmost portion of a mountain. There have been various emotional statements in the press about this form of mining that are neither based on fact nor supported by the truth.

Surface mining methods are essentially the same as highway construction.

Valley fills are areas where the rock and dirt from mining excavation is placed according to a plan designed by engineers and approved by government agencies. The fills usually occur in dry stream beds of what are known as ephemeral or intermittent streams – streams that flow only when it rains.

Contrary to what is portrayed in the press, the amount of actual stream loss from fills is minimal. In other words, where most valley fills are placed, there is no actual stream.

Far from the destructiveness portrayed in the mass media, mining operations have actually helped improve habitat for wildlife in Appalachia. Today, we are once again seeing elk and wild horses on former mountaintop mining sites.

Perhaps most important, mountaintop mining has also created numerous sites for new schools, hospitals, shopping centers, parks, golf courses, housing, airports, industry, agriculture and timber – providing southern West Virginia valuable sites for sustainable economic development.

THE ECONOMICS

The future of Appalachia has to be tied to ECONOMIC DIVERSITY

A single-industry economy is not healthy for the long-term viability of a region. Ideally, jobs that pay factory wages are the goal. Higher wages ensure that every household can sustain a decent standard of living. Tourism has been touted by many as a viable alternative.

An editorial by Bill Bishop with the Lexington Herald-Leader, however, made a very eye-opening point that tourism is principally built on minimum wage jobs and that tourism alone is no bargain for a region.

One major drawback facing the region is the availability of level land out of the floodplain---something people in the rest of the country take for granted. The residents of the southern coalfields are often faced with either living and building businesses on the floodplain, on the unimproved mountaintops or on slopes often approaching 45 degrees.

For an individual to create level land in mountainous terrain, this task is difficult and financially almost impossible.

The responsible use of MOUNTAINTOP MINING creates level land, land that has the potential for many other uses.

Properly planned, mountaintop mining can truly be said to be “building a new West Virginia.”

THE NUMBERS

The practice of surface mining in general and mountaintop mining, in particular, play an essential role in keeping West Virginia coal competitive in the global marketplace.

By extension, surface mining and mountaintop mining play an essential role in maintaining coal production at levels required to continue providing the foundation of the state’s economy (approximately 160,000,000 tons per year).

Production from mountaintop mining operations constitutes approximately 40 percent of the total production of West Virginia’s coal mines (68 million tons of a total of 160 million tons). This also represents approximately $2.45 billion of production and $200 million in coal severance money.

Mountaintop mining is also responsible for approximately 5-7 percent of the state’s budget.

Clearly, mountaintop mining plays a central role in filling the state budget.

Opponents of mountaintop mining argue that the coal can be produced by underground methods, but this is absolutely wrong.

Most of the seams mined using the mountaintop mining method simply can’t be mined in any other way. They are too narrow and would be too dangerous to mine using underground methods.

BUILDING A NEW APPALACHIA

HOMES

SHOPPING CENTERS

RECREATIONAL FACILITIES

WILDLIFE HABITAT

(If you look carefully, you can see current

operations in the distant background)

COALITION FOR MOUNTAINTOP MINING

"A Voice of Reason"