I'm continuing to play up this same theme of blowing up mountains not to beat a dead horse but because not many people, still, know about the horse. Click below for a link that shows how you personally are connected to mountaintop removal. It goes to addressing this question: what's mountaintop removal have to do with me?
This all follows from our last post on Mountaintop Removal, where we were fortunate to have Lenny Kohm pitch in at the comments section. Mr. Kohm is the campaign director for Appalachian Voices, a group whose mission is to "empower people to defend [the Appalachian] region's rich natural and cultural heritage by providing them with tools and strategies for successful grassroots campaigns." He offered a link that I want to broadcast here, "What's my connection to Mountaintop removal?"
Type in your zip code to find the nearest coal-burning facility and its source of coal.
The closest power plant on my grid connected to mountaintop removal is the Bremo Bluff plant operated by Dominion Virginia Power, just south of Charlottesville in Fluvanna County. You can see this on the map above, which was provided by GoogleMaps through the "What's My Connection" site. Bremo Bluff apparently draws from five sites that utilize MTR practices in West Virginia.
have you seen the ads that Walker/Cat is running in rural WV? Check out the discussion on the gristmill (http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/2/18/232624/097) or go right to the source (http://www.walker-cat.com/index.php/www/community/media). Literally unbelievable. I think this even beats the "essential2" campaign by the American Chemistry Council (http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_employment.asp?CID=481&DID=1…).