by Sara Cardinale

Created on: September 12, 2008

Even if you capture 100% of the emissions, which is not even what clean coal plants are proposing, coal is not clean, it can never be clean. The method of obtaining it is the single most important environmental issue of our generation. Forget the polar bears, forget global warming. People are dying, children are wheezing, air quality is declining, and we are losing our mountains in Appalachia. The water, the forests, and the rich land are lost in and around the over 470 mountains that have been strip mined, from the southeast mountain range in the last 2 decades. (imagine an area the size of Delaware!) Strip mining is a method of extracting coal that involves taking explosives that are powerful enough to be used in warfare, and blowing off the tops of these mountains. These mountains that have been a source of culture for generations. Mountains that hold some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. In fact, there are 100s of flaura, fauna and animal species that exist only in Appalachia. There have been dozens of deaths from flying boulders after mountains in peoples' backyards were blasted. One of these deaths was of a 3 year old boy.

Many will assume that strip mining is a rare and extreme form of mining for coal. That is a wrong assumption. In fact more than 70 percent of coal mined in the US comes from strip mining. It's cheaper, faster, and takes less man power. Once these mountains are blown up to get to the coal seams, the extra rock and debris has to be disposed of. As a result, nearly 10,000 "valley fills" have completely buried over 700 miles of healthy streams have been and thousands more have been damaged. These headwaters are an intricate system, that lead to the ocean and provide the drinking water for millions of Americans, and yet so many of us have no idea what atrocities are happening.

The story that isn't being told is that these communitites that have been promised millions of dollars in taxes to enrich their schools, and 100s-1000s of jobs for their families, have been instead poisoned, watched their home values decline dramatically, and their schools and towns become the worst ones in the country. "Clean Coal" technology only refers to the emissions of burning the coal, not mining it. There is no eco-friendly way to mine coal, and the term clean coal is an oxy moron. We need to invest in wind, solar and geo thermal power, and turn away from the politics of clean coal.

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