Wise Co., Va. -- This is the second of two parts of an 11 Connects/Bristol Herald Courier joint investigation into the two sides of the Southwest Virginia surface mining (or mountaintop mining, or strip mining) debate.
Environmentalists have fought for years for stricter regulations, but surface mining adds up to a third of Southwest Virginia's coal mining industry, which is the major force behind Wise County, Va.'s economy.
Efforts to stop mining permits are progressing more than ever, and this could have an incredible affect on this lucrative business.
Southern Appalachian Mountain Steward (SAMS)'s vice president, Kathy Selvage, broods over the impact surface mining has had on her local environment. Thinking of an image on Google Earth, she says, "it looks like a war zone. It looks like a war on our water, a war on our air, a war on our forest, a war on our mountains."
This year, the war between environmentalists and coal companies escalates, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the Obama Administration, has taken on a more active role in the mining permit process.
At this point, the EPA has suspended 79 mining permits for further review.
"We have a long way to go," says SAMS member, Judy Needham, "but I feel we are making progress, at least Ison Rock Ridge doesn't have a permit. It's been over 2 years."
Coal companies also need valley fill permits, to be able to mine and dump their waste, before they can mine. The Army Corp of Engineers is deciding whether to eliminate "Nationwide 21" permits, which would make getting a valley fill permit extremely difficult. This would delay companies from getting valley fill permits, and may ultimately prevent them altogether.
That's a good thing for Appalachia residents like Dorothy Taulbee, who has experienced the negative affects of blasting, and dust, and trucks. Taulbee saw what happened when the mountains above her home were stripped.
"I was pushed out of my home because of coal they wanted," Taulbee said.
But those in favor of surface mining say the county depends on that coal, and the jobs it brings.
"If we have a 30% drop in production of coal, which is anticipated if the stripping does stop," says Robby Robbins, the chairman of Wise County's Board of Supervisors, "that's going to affect 30% of the people involved in mining Wise County."
Bill Bledsoe, president of the Virginia Mining Association, Inc., believes Appalachia mining in particular is being targeted.
"Many think that is only because the Appalachian mountains, and mountain top removal in particular, is the, I think it's been called, the low hanging fruit," says Bledsoe. "It's the easiest to stop."
This may be a win for environmentalists, but coal companies, and local government officials are nervous that this may be the beginning of the end for the industry, and Southwest Virginia's economy.
Click on the icon above for a video report.
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