This article originally provided by The Lexington Herald-Leader

January 25, 2008

Let's stop ignoring damage from mining

By Hank Graddy

Kentucky has some of the oldest and most biologically diverse mountain landscapes and more stream miles than any other state except Alaska. But our state is populated and governed by a people who are content not to know or care about these gifts.

This bittersweet legacy is nowhere more manifest than in our tolerance of hugely destructive surface coal-mining methods, referred to generally as mountaintop removal, and our tolerance of huge "lakes" of liquid coal slurry, impounded in headwater valleys often above and adjacent to old mine works.

Less attention has been given to the disappearance of more than 1,000 miles of streams in Appalachia, including an estimated 730 miles of now-destroyed streams in Eastern Kentucky.

In 1977, in response to nationwide outrage over surface-mining practices in the mountains of Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, and in response to the paralysis or corruption that gripped elected officials in those states and prevented any effective state response, the U.S. Congress passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

The measure did not outlaw all surface mining in the mountains, as many people hoped it would. Instead, the law struck a dangerous bargain with the coal industry, which said it could be trusted to "put the mountain back" when mining was completed. This was the promise -- and the law -- to return the mined mountain back to "approximate original contour."

With the law's enactment and based on the optimistic belief that the executive branch would enforce what the legislative branch mandated, the rest of the nation, including Congress, turned away from Appalachia to address other matters.

Except for the few short years near the end of the Carter administration when the law was correctly implemented, the will of Congress has been subverted. It appears the coal industry could not be trusted to keep its promise. What a surprise.

From time to time over the past 30 years, there have been warnings that the law was not being implemented as written. Most Americans did not care because this issue was not in their backyard -- it was in Appalachia.

But why didn't the people and the government of Kentucky rise up in outrage over the devastation of Appalachia? The painful truth is that we, too, ignored the warnings and that we were complicit in allowing Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia and western Virginia to become the nation's energy sacrifice zone.

It was and is our stewardship responsibility to listen, and change. We should have listened to Jack Spadaro and Dave Cooper.

Spadaro -- employed by the U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration for eight years, after working for the Department of Interior's Office of Surface mining for 18 years -- has been warning us about what was happening to our mountains and water quality for many years. Most of us were not listening.

While working for MSHA, Spadaro was a team leader in the investigation of the Martin County Coal slurry discharge on Oct. 11, 2000.

In appreciation for his candid and critical review, he was reassigned to prevent him from speaking officially about that tragedy.

Cooper worked for 20 years as a mechanical engineer until he saw a mountaintop removal site on Kayford Mountain, W.Va. Since then, he has been committed to a national speaking tour to educate communities across the nation about the tragedy of mountaintop removal.

Cooper also has been warning us about what was happening, with shocking aerial photos of decapitated Appalachian mountains. But most of us were not listening.

Each of us should listen to these men and ask ourselves why this tragedy has gone on so long with so little protest.

As the coal industry constantly reminds us, we all use electricity, and in Kentucky, most of that electricity comes from burning coal. This makes us all part of the problem. We are each responsible for knowing the consequences of our choices and our lifestyles.