Colin Flood, 22, Vermont:
In West Virginia an entire way of life is not only being destroyed but is becoming impossible to resume. The water is no longer fit to drink; it has to be store bought. Every mountain that is destroyed takes with it hunting grounds, fishing waters, and many species of edible mushrooms and plants, all of which once provided income and sustenance free for the using. When the timber is gone, when the topsoil is gone, when the air and water are destroyed, the less than 4% of our nation’s energy needs that mountaintop removal provides will be small consolation. Explosives equivalent to a Hiroshima bomb are detonated across Appalachia every week, destruction on the same scale as the oil spill in the Gulf and the result of the same criminal disregard for health, safety and the law that companies like Massey and BP display on a daily basis.
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