Coal: Coming to the End of the Line

It’s a cruel irony that coal miners are fighting so hard to retain their disease-ridden way of life, given its deadly effects on its participants.  Yes, all 7.3 billion of us denizens of Earth will breathe more easily (literally) when coal becomes a thing of the past, but the people on whom this lethal occupation wreaks its effects most forcefully are the miners themselves. 

Last month, I was one of more than 200,000 people who signed petitions that call on Congress to pass the Appalachian Communities Health Emergency Act (H.R. 912) and enact a moratorium on new mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR).  From this report:

“The more health research we conduct on mountaintop removal the more truth we discover. We have already discovered enough truth that any reasonable thinking person understands we must take urgent action to stop any further MTR,” said Bo Webb, who lives under a mining operation and co-founded the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Campaign. “Any politician, person, agency, or organization (who) refuses to act quickly to protect our children from further exposure to mountaintop removal’s toxic fallout is not serving The People well,” Webb added.