News
Spread the News! Appalachians overwhelmingly oppose mountaintop removal
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
The following email was sent to the 100,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Great news! This week we received the results of a public opinion poll that confirms that voters in Appalachia overwhelmingly want to end mountaintop removal and strengthen protections provided by the Clean Water Act.
A new poll commissioned by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club shows staggering support for ending mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachian coal mining states. Conducted by two bipartisan firms, the poll has revealed that 57% of informed voters oppose the practice, versus 20% approving.
And even more astoundingly, when asked about increasing Clean Water protections on mountaintop removal, 78% of respondents supported increasing Clean Water Act protections, with just 9% opposing.
This announcement comes on the heels of a national poll released by CNN last week, showing that Americans across the country oppose mountaintop removal 57% to 36%.
People like you have made it clear for a long time that the majority of citizens in the U.S. oppose mountaintop removal. This poll puts to rest out-of-date perceptions that Appalachians support mountaintop removal.
These two polls give us great leverage to demand that our elected officials follow their moral compass, follow the science, and follow regional and national public opinion by ending mountaintop removal. Please take a moment to write your congressperson about this poll to make sure that they see these figures.
www.iLoveMountains.org/we-dont-want-MTR
For the Mountains,
Matt Wasson
August 18th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
The ultimate cost and permanent damage wrought by strip mining the Appalachian mountains dwarfs all benefits. This practice is a criminal offense to Mother Nature and should be a criminal offense to any local, state, and Federal government. Anyone with a grain of sense should see this. Let the economics of underground coal mining determine which seams are recovered.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:18 pm
If anyone really wanted to make this all right, we would work together to remove the sludge, and piece it out to it’s seperate periodic table of minerals chemicals, and textiles of all kinds are in this sludge that is pure resources, that are being totally ignored. WHY? Why destroy the land, instead of mining the sludge, and processing the contents to usable material? I have hope that others will also see what I do as to how it can be done, please watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWf9nYbm3ac&list=PLFBB67009040CD371&index=20
September 22nd, 2011 at 10:24 am
Was this an independent poll? Meaning, was the poll conducted by an outside source with absolutely no ties whatsoever supporting this cause?
Separately, it would be nice to see photos of the mountains AFTER reclamation, not before completion.