Mountaintop Removal on Coal River Mountain


Jan 31, 2019

Coal River Mountain Watch outreach coordinator Junior Walk took the drone for a chilly flight early this morning. The footage reveals Alpha Natural Resources expanding the Middle Ridge site over the ridge into the head of Sycamore Creek, tearing down Boyd Branch Knob (the tallest peak to the left), and continuing the Eagle 2 site (the right end of the photos). These photos show over a half mile of ridgeline being destroyed, just a portion of a much larger complex extending for miles on the other side. Mountaintop removal leaves a permanent mark on the mountain as well as on the lives of the people living nearby, in communities plagued with cancer, heart disease, birth defects, and other diseases attributable to the deadly silica dust fallout from blasting. WV Dept. of Environmental Protection this month approved Alpha's renewal of the Eagle 2 permit, in spite of its invalidity, CRMW's objections, and our lawsuit.  Please support our work to protect this mountain and the communities around it as well as ending mountaintop removal at https://secure.givelively.org/donate/coal-river-mountain-watch. Read on for more photos.