Beauty vs. The Beast

by Cat Dees 

We gathered in the mid-morning:  four mountaintop removal activists venturing out for a tour of the 2,000 acre permit request in Rock Creek proposed for blasting.   The haze had not yet burned off as we took the Jeep and headed up Rock Creek toward the top of the mountain.  We passed homes both great and small, some with gardens, chickens, dogs, chain link fences, and residents mowing and weed eating.  Soon the homes became farther apart and we rounded the corner at Workman’s Creek.

Stopping frequently for photographs, we navigated the bumpy, rock-and-boulder-strewn dirt roads — quite a difference from the freshly paved county road that lead up into the residential neighborhood and then ended abruptly.  The hardwoods were full and lush and flowers bloomed wherever the light hit the forest floor.  Finally, we began to see gas pipes along the dirt road along with several pumping stations.  And, when we stopped at a peak, we could see across the valley toward Kayford Mountain.

No sooner had we exited the Jeep when Ed said, “Look there!”  He pointed to the right side of the view of the  strip mine operation where a white cloud ascended from the ground operation.  The haze was still making things fuzzy, but the cloud was clear enough to make out.

We didn’t hear a boom.  And it was much too early for the afternoon blast signifying explosive mountaintop removal, blowing chunks of coal, dust, heavy metals, toxic compounds, sequestered carbon, and everything else within the blast site skyward to rain down on the community — both human and wild.

The evidence of Big Coal’s extraction appears in stark contrast to the green, lush mountains:  absent ridges, valleys, or contour, these are massive scars on the stumps of mountains, ugly, uninhabitable, unthinkable.  Just for coal?  So much destruction for $100 per ton?

The beauty, the biological diversity, the recreational opportunities, the very soul of Appalachia are all crumbling away.

These photographs depict what is still beautiful and intact, as well as what is being destroyed on a daily basis on the last mountains standing.  See what we see and share what we know about the devastating effect of mountaintop removal.  Pay particular attention to the blight upon these once thriving mountains and learn more about how you can help Climate Ground Zero end mountaintop removal.

Beauty

IMG_5814 IMG_5809 IMG_5780 IMG_5967 IMG_5965 IMG_5957 IMG_5948 IMG_5889 IMG_5871 IMG_5834 IMG_5821 IMG_5815 IMG_5804 IMG_5794 IMG_5793 IMG_5792 IMG_5791 IMG_5790 IMG_5789 IMG_5786 IMG_5785 IMG_5784 IMG_5783 IMG_5782 IMG_5767 IMG_5971

IMG_5852 IMG_5812

The Beast

IMG_5848 IMG_5843 IMG_5836 IMG_5772 IMG_5942 IMG_5899 IMG_5865 IMG_5758 IMG_5885 IMG_5941 IMG_5939 IMG_5934 IMG_5927 IMG_5931 IMG_5929 IMG_5924 IMG_5903 IMG_5902 IMG_5898 IMG_5893 IMG_5866 IMG_5762 IMG_5761 IMG_5759 IMG_5956  IMG_5953 IMG_5952 IMG_5764

IMG_5887 IMG_5962

Cat Dees, Rock Creek

Hotter and Drier: The West’s Changed Climate

Human activities are already changing the climate of the American West. This report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), drawn from 50 scientific studies, 125 other government and scientific sources, and our own new analyses, documents that the West is being affected more by a changed climate than any other part of the United States outside of Alaska. When compared to the 20th century average, the West has experienced an increase in average temperature during the last five years that is 70 percent greater than the world as a whole. Responding quickly at all levels of government by embracing the solutions that are available is critical to minimizing further disruption of this region’s climate and economy.

Read the study here:

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/west/contents.asp