The Myth of Reclamation is Still Happening. Friday, November 28th, 2014. We were all blown away by what we learned in the process of putting that show together, and since then we've been wondering why this issue hasn't been getting the attention it deserves. Alberta’s new ban on “mountaintop-removal” coal mining has very limited, if any, applications in reality, The Narwhal has learned. “By the same token, mountaintop removal mining is still happening in Central Appalachia. Since mountaintop removal began, some 500 mountaintops have been demolished, according to a study by the nonprofit Appalachian Voices. Credit: Christian Thomas/SkyTruth Mountaintop removal has done what no environmental group could ever do: it has succeeded in turning many local people, including former miners, against West Virginia's oldest industry. "The Mountaintop Removal Road Show is doing the Lord's Work" - Jack Spadaro, former Director, Mine Safety and Health Academy, Beckley, West Va. "Several decades ago, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin kept a grueling schedule traveling throughout the South, speaking to countless groups of people, raising their consciousness, helping them get organized, and linking communities together. The devastating practice of destroying entire mountains and disposing of mining-waste into headwater streams is still happening across the Appalachian region. Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. The conversation centered around mountaintop removal, one of the most widespread and quickly growing methods of mining coal in use today. For folks living beneath these mines, the assertion that mountaintop removal is over can feel like a slap in the face. Satellite images from 1985 to 2015 show how mountaintop removal mining spread across this 12,000-square-mile area of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. According to a spokesperson for the Alberta government, the definition of the term is extremely narrow and does not apply unless the top of a mountain is “completely” removed. As part of a settlement of a 1998 lawsuit over a mountaintop removal mine near Blair, West Virginia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to conduct an environmental impact study on the cumulative impact of mountaintop removal mining, which it published in 2005. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams.This process is considered to be safer compared to underground mining because the coal seams are accessed from above instead of underground. Help us spread the word that mountaintop removal coal mining is still happening in Appalachia, threatening the homes, lives and drinking water of many communities, and we need to ask President Obama to end the devastating practice NOW before it threatens more communities. This rule would have helped protect water quality and public health in the region.” Fourteen months after the world watched in astonishment as poorly regulated coal-washing chemicals contaminated the Elk River in West Virginia, coal country residents and supporters are gearing up for an epic showdown on March 16 with the state's Department of Environmental Protection—and the U.S. Congress—over the mounting death toll and health crisis from mountaintop removal strip mining. Is still happening across the Appalachian region. have helped protect water quality and public health in region... 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