Coal is an environmentally destructive alternative to oil. Its extraction and processing presents consequences that pollute air quality, destroy habitat, compromise biodiversity and turn aesthetically pleasing landscapes to open pits and chopped off mountain tops.
A relatively new method used by mining companies to remove coal is mountain top removal, because it allows for maximum yields. The process involves clear cutting the mountain, using explosives to blast away the top and finally dumping the waste material into nearby valleys.
In the words of LCV legislative associate Hasan Nazar, “I don’t know why they call it mountain top removal, they should call it mountain top destruction.”
While the extraction process is devastating to the land we live on, the means to process coal is harmful to the air we breathe.
And these implications are only getting closer to home.
Plans by Dominion Power have been set forth to build a coal-fired power plant in
According to NBC News article, “Against Dominion Coal Plant in Virginia: a Mile of Signatures”, the proposed plant would, “emit up to 5.4 million tons of greenhouse gases each year,” a level that would increase the state’s entire output of carbon dioxide by 15% and put Virginia ahead of California in emissions.
With consequences like these, coal is not something that our environment can afford to use
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