The Obstacles of a Mountaintop Removal Solution
Mountaintop removal is the coal mining method of removing mountaintops in order to extract the coal buried beneath. This method of coal mining has grown at an alarming rate due to the great demand of coal, as far as 500 mountaintops have been removed since the last decade. To cope with the high demands, coal companies have resorted to mountaintop removal because it is a faster method of extracting coal and needs less manual work, which leads to greater profits. But there are many negative side effects of mountaintop removal: “from deforestation, to air pollution, destruction of wildlife, and permanent loss of waterways” (Kaneva 933). At this rate, the destruction of the natural environment is inevitable, unless society learns how to balance the economic gains with the environmental damages. Factors such as economic gains, employment, and environmental damages make mountaintop removal a complex issue with no clear solution; however, the issue may face in a better direction if coal companies, coal miners and the communities around mountaintop removal come together and work towards finding a better solution to mountaintop removal. How far can the economic gains outweigh the environmental damages?
Mountaintop removal takes place mostly on the mountains of the Appalachia, where the resources are rich and vast. Some parts of these mountains may hide secrets, as the human hand has not touched them. But the mountains of the Appalachia are not viewed so well in the public eye of the United States. Many of the views towards the mountains of the Appalachian are negative. Jill M Fraley the author of the “Appalachian Stereotypes and Mountaintop Removal” states that “ In the American imagination, Appalachia is no place to go on vacation. Appalachia is a place to avoid, perhaps even a place to fear. Appalachia is dirty, ugly, unkempt, and decidedly different from the rest of the country.” The views and stereotypes...