Oct18

Leveling Appalachia

by Rusty on October 18th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

Link cour­tesy of End­less Emen­da­tion.

Dur­ing the last two decades, moun­tain­top removal min­ing in Appalachia has destroyed or severely dam­aged more than a mil­lion acres of for­est and buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams. Lev­el­ing Appalachia: The Legacy of Moun­tain­top Removal Min­ing, a video report pro­duced by Yale Envi­ron­ment 360 in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Medi­aS­torm, focuses on the envi­ron­men­tal and social impacts of this prac­tice and exam­ines the long-term effects on the region’s forests and waterways.

At a time when the Obama admin­is­tra­tion is review­ing min­ing per­mit appli­ca­tions through­out West Vir­ginia and three other states, this video offers a first-hand look at moun­tain­top removal and what is at stake for Appalachia’s envi­ron­ment and its people.