| People often ask, “Are there pictures of the mountains before mountaintop removal coal mining destroyed them?” Thanks to the United States Geologic Survey and Google Earth, they are right here at your fingertips! |  |
| Load image overlay to show Blair’s terrain before mountaintop removal coal mining began. (Download these images by clicking on the pictures below) |
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Corps of Engineers violated Clean Water Act by allowing West Virginia stream and river destruction
March 26, 2007
Huntington, WV — A federal court late last Friday ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the law by issuing permits that permanently buried vital headwater streams near five mountaintop removal mines in West Virginia. The Corps failed to demonstrate that mountaintop removal mining valley fills can comply with the Clean Water Act without strict limits on the destruction of streams and rivers.
In September 2005, Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment, on behalf of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch challenged five West Virginia mountaintop removal permits. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia today found those permits violate the Clean Water Act. The judge ordered the Corps of Engineers to go back and comply with the law.
Click here to read the entire press release and to hear selected audio highlights from the press conference.
Please join iLoveMountains.org members and other concerned citizens from all across the country in Washington, DC, to advance the Clean Water Protection Act and help end mountaintop removal coal mining.
The Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington is an opportunity for you to devote your ideas, passion and abilities to protecting the mountains of Appalachia. The Clean Water Protection Act reestablishes the original intent of the Clean Water Act, and reverses the 2002 rule change that redefined “fill material” to allow coal companies to dump millions of tons of mining waste into nearby streams. The Week in Washington is your chance to help end this devastating practice.
Click here to learn more and register today!
Very big news – Google has released new featured content in the popular Google Earth program that includes the mountaintop removal coal mining layer at the heart of www.iLoveMountains.org. The new featured content, which can be seen and explored by all 200 million users of Google Earth worldwide, includes the National Memorial for the Mountains, which uses Google Earth satellite imagery to reveal the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachian Mountains.
To learn more, read the press release below, and check out the post on the official Google Blog by Mary Anne Hitt, executive director of Appalachian Voices. In the post, Hitt writes,
The first time I flew over southern West Virginia and saw mountaintop removal coal mining from the air, I knew that if everyone could see what I had seen – mountain after mountain blown up and then dumped into streams in the neighboring valleys – they would think twice about where their electricity came from the next time they flipped a light switch.
Now it’s your turn to fly over the region.
To view the mountaintop removal layer in the new featured content for Google Earth (available for free download), go to the “Layers” sidebar in Google Earth, on the left-hand side of the screen. In the “Featured Content” folder, look for “Appalachian Mountaintop Removal” in the “Global Awareness” folder. More detailed instructions are available on the iLoveMountains Tutorial page where you can also download the full-featured version of the Memorial.
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Contact: Appalachian Voices
Mary Anne Hitt, Executive Director | 828-262-1500 (w) | 540-239-0073 (c) |
Matthew Wasson, PhD, Conservation Director | 828-262-1500 (w) | 828-773-0788 (c) |
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March 12, 2007
Boone, NC – Todayís release of featured content in the popular Google Earth program will include a new mountaintop removal coal mining layer created by nonprofit organizations in Appalachia. This month’s imagery and data release for Google Earth will include the National Memorial for the Mountains as one of the new Global Awareness layers in Google Earth, which will be available to all 200 million users of the application worldwide.
The National Memorial for the Mountains uses Google Earth to show the locations and tell the stories of mountains in Appalachia impacted by mountaintop removal, a form of coal mining that involves clear-cutting forests, blasting off the tops of mountains with explosives, and dumping the former mountaintop into valleys below, burying streams.
The new mountaintop removal layer in Google Earth features a high resolution tour of a large mountaintop removal site, 22 memorials that tell first-hand stories of families and communities impacted by mountaintop removal, and the locations of over 470 Appalachian mountaintops destroyed by mountaintop removal. Additional features include before-and-after views of mountaintop removal sites, a Google SketchUp model of the massive equipment used in mountaintop removal operations, and overlays of a large mine site over 36 U.S. cities.
To see the mountaintop removal layer in the Google Earth program (available for free download at http://earth.google.com), look for “Appalachian Mountaintop Removal” under the “Global Awareness” folder of the “Layers” sidebar.
The National Memorial for the Mountains is the centerpiece of www.iLoveMountains.org, a project of 7 grassroots organizations in Appalachia working together to end the devastation of the regionís mountains, homes and communities by mountaintop removal coal mining: Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Save Our Cumberland Mountains, and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
iLoveMountains.org and the National Memorial for the Mountains were produced by Appalachian Voices, an organization that brings people together to solve the environmental problems having the greatest impact on the central and southern Appalachian Mountains.
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Very big news – Google has released new featured content in the popular Google Earth program that includes the mountaintop removal coal mining layer at the heart of www.iLoveMountains.org. The new featured content, which can be seen and explored by all 200 million users of Google Earth worldwide, includes the National Memorial for the Mountains, which uses Google Earth satellite imagery to reveal the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachian Mountains.
To learn more, read the press release below, and check out the post on the official Google Blog by Mary Anne Hitt, executive director of Appalachian Voices. In the post, Hitt writes,
The first time I flew over southern West Virginia and saw mountaintop removal coal mining from the air, I knew that if everyone could see what I had seen – mountain after mountain blown up and then dumped into streams in the neighboring valleys – they would think twice about where their electricity came from the next time they flipped a light switch.
Now it’s your turn to fly over the region.
To view the mountaintop removal layer in the new featured content for Google Earth (available for free download), go to the “Layers” sidebar in Google Earth, on the left-hand side of the screen. In the “Featured Content” folder, look for “Appalachian Mountaintop Removal” in the “Global Awareness” folder. More detailed instructions are available on the iLoveMountains Tutorial page where you can also download the full-featured version of the Memorial.
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Press Release – For Immediate Release
Mountaintop Removal Featured in Latest Google Earth Release
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Contact: Appalachian Voices
Mary Anne Hitt, Executive Director | 828-262-1500 (w) | 540-239-0073 (c) |
Matthew Wasson, PhD, Conservation Director | 828-262-1500 (w) | 828-773-0788 (c) |
————————————
March 12, 2007
Boone, NC – Todayís release of featured content in the popular Google Earth program will include a new mountaintop removal coal mining layer created by nonprofit organizations in Appalachia. This month’s imagery and data release for Google Earth will include the National Memorial for the Mountains as one of the new Global Awareness layers in Google Earth, which will be available to all 200 million users of the application worldwide.
The National Memorial for the Mountains uses Google Earth to show the locations and tell the stories of mountains in Appalachia impacted by mountaintop removal, a form of coal mining that involves clear-cutting forests, blasting off the tops of mountains with explosives, and dumping the former mountaintop into valleys below, burying streams.
The new mountaintop removal layer in Google Earth features a high resolution tour of a large mountaintop removal site, 22 memorials that tell first-hand stories of families and communities impacted by mountaintop removal, and the locations of over 470 Appalachian mountaintops destroyed by mountaintop removal. Additional features include before-and-after views of mountaintop removal sites, a Google SketchUp model of the massive equipment used in mountaintop removal operations, and overlays of a large mine site over 36 U.S. cities.
To see the mountaintop removal layer in the Google Earth program (available for free download at http://earth.google.com), look for “Appalachian Mountaintop Removal” under the “Global Awareness” folder of the “Layers” sidebar.
The National Memorial for the Mountains is the centerpiece of www.iLoveMountains.org, a project of 7 grassroots organizations in Appalachia working together to end the devastation of the regionís mountains, homes and communities by mountaintop removal coal mining: Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Save Our Cumberland Mountains, and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.
iLoveMountains.org and the National Memorial for the Mountains were produced by Appalachian Voices, an organization that brings people together to solve the environmental problems having the greatest impact on the central and southern Appalachian Mountains.
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Appalachian Voices • Coal River Mountain Watch • Heartwood • Keeper of the Mountains • Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition • Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment • Sierra Club Environmental Justice
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards • SouthWings • Stay Project • West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
Site produced by Appalachian Voices 589 West King St, Boone, NC 28607 ~ 1-877-APP-VOICE (277-8642) ~ ilm-webmaster@ilovemountains.org
