Coal Mining For or Against

[mlbevins]

I know that is is completely off topic, but I have to ask.  My husband works on a Coal Mining Strip Job, where they take off the top of the mountain to remove coal.  I have seen several websites where people are against this practice, and many of the statements made by these people leads me to see that they know nothing about coal mining.  I was just wondering what everyone's oppinions are about coal and if you even if you have an opinion.  Sorry if this upsets anyone.

[AlexDenlinger]

Coal is a natural resource, they should be able to mine it whichever way is most efficent. As long as they arn't damaging other peoples property without fair compensation it seems fine to me.

[ollyshea]

Currently we are relying heavily on foreign oil.  We have an estimated 300 years worth of coal right here in the good ol' USA. I am totally for it.

[bschumacher]

The reality is that we'll have to continue using coal, at least for awhile. However, I don't think that removing mountain tops is a very practical long-term strategy. We need energy to heat our homes and run power plants, but we need clean water and stable ecosystems even more; that is, if we want to survive in the long term. People can survive longer without electricity than they can without water. Coal waste has already polluted many streams;  as for the ecological damage caused by removing a bunch of mountaintops, I don't even want to think about it.

[lightstar240]

Put it this way- While it might not be the safest thing, for us or the environment, until we find some kind of alternative energy source, we still need coal. And if this is an efficient way to get it, then its kind of important that we do this. I don't know much about mining, since I'm from Kansas and to my knowledge, there are no coal mines here. Kind of ironic since we have a whole lot of coal-fired power plants here. But then again, we have a ton of oil and hardly any refineries, as well. But like I was saying before, I really don't know much about this to really take a stand for or against it. Based on what I do know, however, I'm not sure whether or not taking the top off a mountain is entirely safe. As long as it doesn't cause some kind of Mount Saint Helens-ish disaster, it SHOULD be OK.

[jaymz462]

Destroys the envrionment = not ok.  Find another way to get the coal.

[mlbevins]

I know that everyone says that it destroys the environment, but I know from first hand that I can't see it.  I live on an old strip job that was work on in the late 70's and late 80's.  I live in the mountains in Eastern Kentucky and there is no flat land left to develop.  Due to the strip job that we live on we own 8 acres in which 4 is flat.  We even own the pond that was used for the mine and we have fish in it that are living.  So I don't understand what the problem with strip mining is.  Due to strip mining we are also able to have an airport, and since the mountain top removal system has been started we have less flooding than we did say 20 years ago.  I wish that more people out there would understand the real evironmetal impact that the mining has on the area.