There's no denying the importance of coal in America.
The combustible black rock provides about 40% of the United States' electricity and plays a vital role in the economy of places like West Virginia.
But there's also no getting around the major health and environmental problems caused by both coal mining and coal burning.
One increasingly popular mining method, called mountaintop removal mining, could be the most destructive yet. While traditional coal mining extracts coal from underground, mountaintop removal mining blasts away chunks of mountains to get at the coal beneath. This method also requires fewer workers than others, thus reducing jobs (and the cost of electricity).
In January, we went to West Virginia and rented a plane to get a better sense of what mountaintop removal mining does to the people, economy, and landscape.
Traditional coal mining involves tunneling deep underground. This method is expensive, people-intensive, and occasionally dangerous. It has been on the decline since the 1970s.
In the '70s, strip mine legislation opened the possibility for an alternative. It's called "mountaintop removal" (MTR). It became a popular West Virginia coal mining technique because it's far cheaper than underground mining and requires much less manpower to perform.
The Sierra Club calls mountaintop removal mining, "Quite possibly the worst environmental assault yet." It's easy to see why.
Source: The Missouri Sierra Club
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