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| Steep-slope
development Mountain ridge development Surface-mining "Clean-coal" |
No. There is no surface-mining in western North Carolina, nor wholesale
removal of mountain-tops in Western North Carolina. The story is more
subtle than pushing the tops of mountains into our valleys and coves.
But there is a connection. The mountain tops of western North Carolina
are at risk and the mountains that are coming down in West Virginia,
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee are directly related to our lives in
this western region. Mountains are at risk. Steep-slope development has been foreground in environmental debates in western North Carolina, but it is still occurring, particularly in areas not covered by local restrictions. For example, the 2004 landslide at the Peaks Creek community in Macon County claimed five lives and destroyed 16 homes. In Haywood county the rate of steep-slope development has nearly doubled and in one area, Hunters Crossing, many homeowners are watching their investment slowly move with a deep, slow-moving landslide. They will soon be making payments on homes that are condemned. In the 1970's steep-slope construction was only 10% of construction. Today, that figure is closer to 50%. [New Life Journal, July, 2008 by D.J. Gerken, accessed 2008-08-24] Since 1983 ridge-top construction has been halted by state statute, but a quick tour in our mountains provides clear evidence that the law has loop-holes and that building on ridge-tops continues in western North Carolina. [See: 113A-205. Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983. (1983, c. 676, s. 1.) <http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/wq/lpn/statutes/nc/mountainridgeprotection.htm>, accessed 2008-08-24] Under the state law, "Protected mountain ridges" are all mountain ridges whose elevation is 3,000 feet and whose elevation is 500 or more feet above the elevation of an adjacent valley floor." Those ridges falling under this specific height are exempt to some degree. Further, the prohibition against "tall buildings or structures" does not include "water, radio, telephone or television towers or any equipment for the transmission of electricity or communications or both." Only a few pockets of coal can be found in North Carolina. Most coal is found in the central section of the state and constitutes no significant resource for exploitation. Yet, Duke Power in North Carolina is one of the most significant players in the extraction of coal in the Southern Appalachians and that coal is continuing to have a major impact on our quality of life. Air pollution levels have increased significantly in recent years. While much of the pollution is ozone and automobile related, considerable pollution may be found in coal-fired power plants, most under the authority of Duke Power, Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal providers, and other energy conglomerates. Currently coal-fired power plants generate half of our electricity in the U.S.. Coal is also the biggest carbon dioxide producer, accounting for nearly 40% of worldwide emissions. We know now that CO2 is the chief culprit in global warming. It is not surprising then that the add campaign for "clean coal" has picked up over the last few years. Chairman and CEO of Peabody Energy, Gregory Boyce, has asserted that, "There's a perception out there that coal is dirty, and we have to change that." When Boyce says, "Black is the new green," it is obfuscation. The new green for Peabody Energy is "green-buck" found in the increase in export of coal to China and India and the rise in the price of Appalachian coal, from $45 to more than $100 a ton since last year (2007). Foreign markets make up more than half of Peabody's profits. The increase in coal costs have already started an acceleration in electricity rate, with some areas of the country seeing increases over 30%. [Davidson, Paul, "Coal King Peabody Cleans Up," USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-08-18-peabody-coal_N.htm , accessed 2008-08-24, ] Predictions in some quarters are that electrical cost increases may exceed 70% before it levels off. Citing soaring coal costs, dozens of utilities recently announced electricity rate increases of up to 30%. As we sit in our homes on the slopes, comfortably looking out over our rolling ocean of mountains, we might think about all those lights and electrical "tools" we take for granted. Recently construction of coal-fired plants have seen the largest increase in a generation. Over 30 new plants are under construction in the U.S. Peabody and its partners are constructing a $3 billion, 1,600-megawatt coal generator in Illinois. This is the largest coal plant to be built in the U.S in over 25 years. In the side-bar to the USA Today 2008-08-18, article "Coal King Peabody Cleans Up," the following observation was made by Richard Bajura, head of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at West Virginia University. "Coal-to-liquid fuel would sell today for about $70 a barrel, ... With oil at $120 a barrel, it would seem like a no-brainer." On The Backs of the Poor .... Again It is not surprising to see the latest statistics for Kentucky --- a figure directly related to the eastern coal-fields:
Why do we care about poverty rates in Kentucky and the mountains coming down in West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky? "Poor Mountain Whites," a term much in the literature at the end of the twentieth century has again surfaced in today's literature, but today the racial and ethnic mix in the region is far broader and the implications for the nation as a whole far more complex and sinister. What these populations share in common is their mean economic conditions that will only deteriorate as the rest of the country goes into economic down-turn. Sustainable economies such as tourism are less viable than they have ever been in these ravaged mountain states. |
Regarding the Eastern coal fields, did you also know ?
[See also: Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals data. University of Kentucky, Kentucky Geological Survey data, http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/production/kycoal01.htm and search the Kentucky Geological Survey's coal production database ] |
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| To follow the public protest regarding the destruction of mountains in the Southern Appalachians: | |
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