That’s the title of the editorial from yesterday’s “NY Times” about The Crime of Mountaintop Removal Mining. I’ve been writing about this travesty for nearly a year here. My concern was triggered by this truly outstanding documentary, Burning the Future: Coal in America, and meeting the filmmaker and having him in my climate change class.
The Times is clear from the outset of this impassioned editorial: “The longstanding disgrace of mountaintop mining is now squarely in President Obama’s hands.” The Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA are under a new administration and thus the President is in a position, now, to reverse the scandalous misfeasance of these agencies on this score. There is no reason to wait. The people of Appalachia have been raising their voices on this for years and it is high time that the government that represents them listened to them and heard their message.
(For more stunning photos like these from Vivian Stockman, go here.)