Bad News for Mountain Tops

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Looks like the Coal Industry wins again. It is hard for me to understand the logic of destroying beautiful mountains and polluting water from mountain springs when there are other, better ways to provide energy to Americans.

See article published in The Charleston Gazette

Published on Friday, February 13, 2009 by the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
Appeals Court Overturns Mountaintop Removal Ruling
by Ken Ward Jr.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A federal appeals court today overturned a judge's 2007 decision to require more thorough permit reviews of mountaintop removal mining operations.
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I read somewhere that the so-called stimulus package (recently passed by the US Senate and US House of Rep.) contains money to fund research on clean-burning coal technology, but nothing to regulate where or how the coal is mined. In the meantime, how many mountains will be destroyed? How much will the environment be hurt? How many coal burning power plants will be built (some right here in NC) using dirty, mercury spewing, water polluting methods?

I don't know the status of a bill in the NC House that would try to stop mountain-top removal coal from being used in NC. It is a start and I hope our legislators will pass it.