Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

Exciting updates from those working to end destructive mining across the earth! Check out this great article for details on this story that is very similar to Appalachia despite it being across the ocean.  In the Laciana Valley in Spain, local activists has succeeded in getting the local government to end plans for mountaintop removal coal mining in their mountain community.

During the last twenty years, irreversible changes have been taking place in the Southwestern Cantabrian Mountains, in an area of great ecological value, which is protected by EU environmental legislation. The extractive technique known as Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining (MTR) has illegally modified during this time the topography and the life of people in Laciana Valley (León). Although it is literally an explosive industrial process, this mining activity developed in relative silence, away from public opinion. In general, MTR operations are remote, located beyond the landscape seen from city centers. At first glance, only a well-trained eye can detect the landscape morphological transformations involved in the amputation of the top of a mountain and its subsequent artificial reconstruction. But for the 10.000 inhabitants directly affected by this activity, mostly connoisseurs of mountain valley profiles, MTR is constantly visible and audible.

More info in: 

- http://www.filonverde.org/

- http://www.soslaciana.org/

– Herrero, A. (2013). Anatomía de un conflicto socioecológico: el caso de la minería de carbón a cielo abierto en el Valle de Laciana. Tesis Doctoral: http://www.tdx.cat/bitstream/handle/10803/116202/ahc1de1.pdf?sequence=1

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2014 at 5:13 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.