SkyTruth, in partnership with Appalachian Voices, documented the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) over a 59-county area in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia by mapping the extent of mountaintop removal mining over a 30 year period using satellite imagery. The historical record shows a 250% increase in MTR occurring over the last […]
SkyTruth, in partnership with Appalachian Voices, documented the impact of mountaintop removal mining for coal over a 59-county area in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia. The goal of the project was to map the direct landscape impact — the “footprint” — of mountaintop removal mining (MTR) over a 30-year period, from 1976 to 2005. […]
Coal combustion waste (CCW) is the fly-ash and other residue left over from burning coal. It typically contains toxic components, such as heavy metals, that are known carcinogens. CCW is disposed of in landfills, dumped (legally!) in leaky old mines and quarries, and often stored onsite in large impoundments near the coal-fired power plants. In […]
I work at the WestWind Foundation, a family foundation based in Charlottesville, Virginia, that provides support to non-profits working to stop mountaintop removal coal mining. WestWind has supported SkyTruth since 2004. Before coming to WestWind, I knew little of the technical analysis performed by SkyTruth. But in the past year, I have learned something of […]