1. In Defense of Mountains.
- Author
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Bowe, Rebecca
- Subjects
- *
MINERAL industries , *ENVIRONMENTAL engineering , *STRIP mining , *ENVIRONMENTAL policy , *ENVIRONMENTAL protection , *ENVIRONMENTALISM , *LEGISLATIVE bills - Abstract
The article discusses the issue of destructive mining. It was early in the morning of July 5 when researcher Ed Wiley arrived at the West Virginia state capital building and began his hunger strike. Set beside him was an aerial photograph of Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia, located 150 feet from a Massey coal processing silo and 400 yards below a 2.8 billion-gallon coal waste dam. Days before, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had approved a permit for a second silo to be constructed alongside the first, a mere 220 feet from school property. State and federal laws prohibit any new mining activity within 300 feet of a school, but agency officials argued at a hearing that these silos were exempt from the rule because they were given permits before the federal U.S. Surface Mining and Control Act of 1977 came into effect. The agency's position was undermined when a local newspaper reported that both silos were actually outside the original permit area.
- Published
- 2006