Customer Reviews

Missing Mountains: We went to the mountaintop but it wasn't there

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was pleased when two of my mini-essays about mountaintop removal were accepted for publication in "Missing Mountains: We Went to the Mountaintop but it Wasn't There."

And I'm proud to note the book seems to have made a serious difference in the battle to force the coal companies to find a way to extract coal that doesn't destroy rivers, mountains, or communities.

"Safety1970," the author of another review of "Missing Mountains" is dead wrong in characterizing the authors of the book as "fiction writers." Some of us write fiction, others are poets, some are environmental writers, others are journalists. In short, we were a reasonable cross-section of Kentucky's literary community.

It was curious that he headed his review "We love mountains and plateaus." I truly don't understand how anyone who cares about Appalachian forest could find anything to love about a dead, gray, man-made mesa.

If you don't know as much as you should about mountaintop removal --or perhaps you know nothing about it at all-- please consider this book as a step toward learning about the utter destruction of Kentucky mountains and streams simply because it's the cheapest way to extract coal from thin seams.

On the other hand, if you _do_ know about MTR, please consider giving this book to someone who needs to learn.

Thanks.

Bob, Rowan County KY

For Decades the Coal industry has passed the cost of their products onto State's Health and Environmental resources. They are profiteering on Pubic allowances for them to pollute our Land and water. Companies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority are enjoying their carte blanch to pollute as they did little to prevent its Coal Ash spill. Others are allowing the Toxic ash to continue to accrue in cheaply created and maintained lakes. There are hundreds such companies polluting the water of Western states mining for Coal shale, all while using up precious water and contaminating what's left with toxic runoff. Coal and Oil companies are invading western states to strip them of their resources and leaving wasteland and dirty air in return.

Coal company lobbyists argue that cap-and-trade is an unfair tax on them. They forget that citizens already pay that tax to subsidize them through increased health, environmental, and military costs. In addition, mountaintop coal removal takes away a communities ability to use their mountains to generate wind power for generations, all while polluting local water supplies.

(See Coal River Wind vs. MTR study http://www.crmw.net/ ).

Arguments lamenting C-n-T as an evil and unfair tax on fossil fuel producers are only in the best interest of Coal companies profiteering on our natural resources.

As for Jobs, an equal investment in Renewable Energy, as opposed to Oil and Coal, will provide over four times the number of jobs our nation requires to be energy self reliant, and Tax revenue from Wind energy offsets investment incentives.

I thought it was very interesting. It made me understand more about the land.

Coal is killing the culture of the mountaineer. No mountains/no mountaineers. Thanks for writing this great book.

Missing Mountains is a very misleading opinion piece written by a group of FICTION writers. They are certainly welcome to their opinion, but the majority who contributed to this book are not from Appalachia. Having grown up, lived and worked in Appalachia for most of my life as an engineer and scientist I think I have some knowledge on the impact of mining on the landscape and the environment.

Mining has certainly had its share of problems, but what human endeavor has not. The mines of today not only provide energy and raw materials for our society, but the new landscapes provide opportunities for the future. Ask the thousands of people who live, work and play on the reclaimed mountains and plateaus which are some of the most valuable tracts of land in Appalachia.