Personally I don’t like any of the three possible future Presidents. As I have heard a few people say - I have become a one issue voter. And the issue is the future use of coal. The reasoning behind it is simple - more coal usage means more mountaintop removal. I especially hate to hear [...]

The photos in this post I took over the Memorial Day weekend. The first photo - I was thinking, Beauty and the Beast.

I hate to waste a good title but unfortunately hiking Schumate Hollow is no longer an option.

In case you missed it, Mountainsaver was on CNN Thursday night as a part of the Anderson Cooper 360 show. I believe it was the longest segment yet that I have personally seen on any type of news network concerning mountaintop removal coal mining.

At the end of the video - the mouthpiece for the National [...]

I know the title may not seem appropriate but what else could you call it? Progress maybe…

If all of the destruction on the upper ridges were not enough - at the base of this monstrosity sits 2.8 billion gallons of coal slurry. The pond in the next 2 photos is the one behind Marsh Fork [...]

I was back in Clay’s Branch for most of the afternoon today. This time instead of being there with a filmmaker I was there with a professional photographer. I also came at the site from a different direction and was enlightened in a scary way. The site is directly connected to the site behind Marsh [...]

This post doesn’t have so much to do with mountaintop removal but has quite a lot to do with a couple of authors to this blog and the culture and heritage associated with the mountains.
As much as I hate to admit it, before starting this battle I wasn’t very familiar with Appalachian folk music. I [...]

One of my favorite quotes of all time - “A bold onset is half the battle” - that is the truth in the battle against mountaintop removal coal mining. I think just facing those that feel threatened by a voice has been half the battle. The other half of the battle is as difficult. I [...]

Lake Monoun, West Cameroon, West Africa - In 1984 carbon dioxide (CO2) bubbled to the surface of the lake from a geothermal vent killing 37 residents in nearby villages. Two years later, 1986, a similar incident occurred also in West Africa, Lake Nyos. In this instance the lake was said to have become saturated with [...]

This website has been receiving a surprising amount of visitors through search engines with the title to this post as the search phrase. Being as that is the case I thought it appropriate to answer the question.
Coal is a fossil fuel formed in ecosystems where plant remains were preserved by water and mud from oxidization [...]

I’m currently reading “The Battle of Blair Mountain”  and it is turning out to be quite the history lesson of West Virginia, the labor movement and the corruption of  government at all levels- most of which probably isn’t in any history books that our students read at school.  I’m only half way through it, but [...]