I've been shooting this documentary on the nuclear waste industry for
the past couple of years. In the process of shooting in eastern
Kentucky I've seen the mountaintop mining that's going on there. I
guess the idea is to mine the coal as fast as possible, use it to
generate energy and sell the energy. They're in a "cashing out" phase
right now because Washington sees it as an economic boost at a time
when the economy needs all the help it can get. Anyway, they're
blowing the top off these mountains to get to the coal seam and then
they just level the mountain until they hit the bottom of the seam.
They dump all the waste in the nearest river. They've flattened an
area the size of Maryland in the Appalachians. It's like looking at
the surface of the moon. All the rivers have been filled in and the
mountains have been leveled. And of course, like you say, all that
coal goes to dirty coal-burning plants along the Ohio River where
they burn it as fast as they can and blast millions of tons of
mercury into the atmosphere in the process. We've got a generation of
asthmatic children growing up right now and nobody seems to care. Of
course, nobody's going to educate them, anyway, so they might as well
wheeze quietly in a corner somewhere. See? Now you've got me
started...I'll try to shut up now.
On Jun 22, 2005, at 3:54 PM, John Hermanson wrote:
> It's unsafe to eat freshwater fish in atleast 19 states due to mercury
> contamination. Thanks to the Coal Industry (which wrote the White
> House's
> "Clear Skies Initiative".) Yeah, the skies will be clear of
> birds........
>
> John Hermanson
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