Appalachian Catholics tackle divisive mining issue

National Catholic Reporter, July 30, 2004 by Margaret Gabriel

According to the Kentucky Department for Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, there are four mining methods typically used in Kentucky: underground or deep mining, area mining, contour mining, mountaintop mining. The last three are surface methods, in which the coal lies near the surface and can be extracted by removing the covering layers of rock and soil. In most cases, surface mining is a faster and more efficient way to mine the coal near the earth's surface, says James B. Goode in his book Mining in the 21st Century: The Cutting Edge. In writing the book, the author was supported by the Kentucky Coal Association.

"This book was commissioned to buttress the economic development of the industry," said Glenmary Fr. John Rausch. "But to be responsible, we have to look at the sustainable part of an industry. Can it sustain the environment? The community? Workers? The Cutting Edge has little to say about the environmental impacts of mining."

Mountaintop mining, also called mountaintop removal, was the main method highlighted during the Bishops' Forum on Mountaintop Removal in Hindman, Ky., in December. The method removes the top of the mountain to extract the underlying seams of coal. It involves clear-cutting forests, using dynamite to blast away 800 to 1,000 feet of mountaintop and dumping the resulting rock and dirt into nearby valleys.

Research by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth has concluded that mountaintop mining is responsible for increasingly severe flooding because of the damage done to the contour of the land and the practice of "valley filling" which also effects the water table of the area mined.

"The impacts of mining reach beyond Eastern Kentucky, considering the contributions burning coal makes to global warming and climate change," said Jerry Hardt, a member of the group.--Margaret Gabriel

MARGARET GABRIEL

Knott County, Ky.

[Margaret Gabriel is a freelance writer in Lexington, Ky.]