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S.O.A.R.E. explores the hidden destruction of mountaintop removal

September 30, 2008 |

On Thursday, October 2, at 7:30 p.m., the hidden destruction of the Appalachian Mountains will be revealed via the Mountaintop Removal Road Show. This program features a beautiful and thought-provoking multimedia show with traditional Appalachian music and culture.  The “roadshow” takes place at the APSU Sundquist Science Building Room E106B and is free and open to the public. It is presented by S.O.A.R.E., Students Organized to Advance Renewable Energy.

Mountaintop removal. Photo by Viv Stockman @ www.ohvec.org.

Lexington, Kentucky environmental activist Dave Cooper will explain what it is like to live near a mountaintop removal mine, and answer questions.

In Virginia, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, coal companies blast as much as 600 feet off the top of the mountains, then dump the rock and debris into mountain streams.  Over 300,000 acres of the most beautiful and productive hardwood forests in America have been turned into barren grasslands.  Mountaintop removal mining increases flooding, contaminates drinking water supplies, cracks foundations of nearby homes, and showers towns with dust and noise from blasting.