The following is a statement by Earthjustice Senior Legislative Counsel Joan Mulhern in response to a new report by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and his House Natural Resources Committee staff on foreign exports from Appalachian mountaintop removal coal mines (read full report):

Mountaintop removal mining devastates the landscape,
turning areas that should be lush with forests and wildlife
into barren moonscapes. (OVEC)

“We’re opposed to all mountaintop removal coal mining because it destroys communities, contaminates clean drinking water supplies, harms and sickens people, decimates beautiful mountains, snuffs out Appalachian culture, and buries thousands of miles of streams.

“Today, the facts revealed by a powerful and sweeping report by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and his House Natural Resources Committee staff add stinging insult to grave injury to Appalachian coal communities.

“Rep. Markey’s report reveals that some coal companies are blowing up our nation’s mountains and harming our own people just to ship most of the coal for use and energy production overseas. Is this the energy independence the coal industry has been claiming?

“It’s time for our nation’s leaders to face facts about dirty and dangerous coal and the abominable practice of mountaintop removal mining. We thank Rep. Markey for his leadership in exposing this truth about mountaintop removal coal mining.

“Mountaintop removal coal mining is an indefensible and immoral way to mine a woefully dirty and outdated form of energy. Our nation and our people deserve a clean energy economy that powers our communities and supplies healthy, sustainable jobs right here in our country.”

Read the full report: http://democrats.naturalresources.house.gov/sites/democrats.naturalresources.house.gov/files/documents/Our_Pain_Their_Gain1.pdf