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Killing Community
In West Virginia on July 7, 2001, two people were killed and 35 homes
were damaged or swept away by massive flooding when debris from a mountain
top removal mine (much like that proposed for Zeb Mountain) swept through
the town of Dorothy during a heavy rainstorm, allowing a torrent of
water, dirt and rock to overwhelm runoff ponds.
Coal must be washed of impurities before being shipped to market. Coal
companies usually use a valley or hollow to hold the dirty water or
slurry. A resulting problem is water and silt buildup behind the dam.
On February 26, 1972, a coal slurry dam collapsed in West Virginia,
sending 132 million gallons of black sludge and water like a tidal wave
down Buffalo Creek hollow. In a matter of minutes the 20 foot wall of
sludge water literally bulldozed everything in its path for 15 miles
through the narrow hollow. When it was over, 125 people were dead, 1,100
injured, and over 4,000 left homeless. Robert Clear Coal Corporation
has inadequate provisions to prevent this from happening at Zeb Mountain.
Even with an intact forest to absorb runoff , the area around Zeb Mountain
has been prone to flooding. Areas that have been clear-cut have already
suffered major mud-slides.
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Compensation?
West Virginia is an indicator of corporate responsibility. Mining companies
have yet to fulfill their promises to compensate residents. Mountaintop
removal uses 100 times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma
City bombing, more than enough to shake and cause serious structural
damage to homes. Less than 1/10 of citizens’ complaints about
blasting result in citations. Even if citizens have a pre-blast survey
(and most do not because of the expense), they must still prove that
the blasting was the actual cause of any damage to their property, an
almost impossible feat for most.
Robert Clear Corporation stated that they will not be doing their blasting
all at once the way it was done before due to the damage to surrounding
homes. There is no evidence that the new method will not cause serious
structural damage to surrounding homes and residences.
During a recent blockade of the mine by Earth First!ers, police revealed
that they have been receiving "lots of flack by the locals about
this mine."
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Killing the Mountain:
Coal companies want to mine thin layers of coal by blasting off the
tops of mountains. A recent interview with one of the miners about mining
practices on Zeb Mountain revealed that 30'-40' holes in the mountain
top will be drilled through rock until coal is reached. Explosives are
then inserted into the holes and set up so that they go off with a few
seconds intervals. One above ground miner working for Robert Clear Coal
Corporation said that he remembered an underground miner coming to his
site and being scared to death. "You constantly have to be on the
alert for falling rock."
Waste rock and soil is typically bulldozed or dumped over the edge
to slide down into and fill adjacent valleys, forever destroying the
valleys and their streams. In West Virginia alone, over 1,000 miles
of biologically crucial headwaters and streams have already been buried.
Mountaintop removal would destroy the watershed at Zeb Mountain.
After all of the coal has been removed, mining companies are supposed
to contour the remaining hillsides into something like their original
shape and replant them to prevent landslides and erosion. However in
West Virginia these efforts have failed.
Robert Clear is calling the mining of Zeb Mountain "contour mining"
and stated that it was not mountaintop removal and that what they are
doing actually helps the mountain. Another miner with him stated
that "the Appalachian mountains are pretty steep and flat places
to build on are hard to find. We are required to re contour the mountain
back to its original shape. We open up areas, why you could build a
Wal-mart in some spots."
Previous mountain top removal mines in West Virginia left adjacent
valleys filled in with waste rock and soil, permanently changing the
flow of rain and snow melt runoff in the entire area.
Despite the severe damage caused by mountaintop removal mining, coal
companies prefer it over traditional underground mining because it’s
cheaper to blow up and bulldoze the mountaintop and then move on.
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