Mountaintop Mining

SkyTruth Spotlight

SkyTruth Board Member Mary Anne Hitt: Activist Extraordinaire

June 3, 2020/in Biodiversity, Climate, Freshwater, Mining, Mountaintop Mining /by Amy Mathews

Mary Anne Hitt has led Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign to extraordinary national success. But she honed her skills in Appalachia, with a little help from SkyTruth.

You might say Mary Anne Hitt has Appalachian activism in her blood. When she was growing up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee her father was Chief Scientist at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Back then, acid rain was decimating high elevation forests in the East, fueled by pollution from coal-fired power plants. Her father watched as iconic places in the park turned into forests of skeleton trees. Today, Mary Anne is National Director of Campaigns for the Sierra Club; and she also serves on SkyTruth’s board of directors.

SkyTruth Spotlight

New Intern Matthew Ibarra Shifts from Aerospace Engineering to Protecting the Planet from Space

February 20, 2020/in Bilge Dumping, Biodiversity, Climate, FrackFinder, Freshwater, Hydraulic Fracturing, Internship, Mountaintop Mining, Natural Gas, Oceans, Oil & Gas /by Matthew Ibarra

Matthew thought he wanted to be an aerospace engineer when he started college. Then he learned more about environmental damage to the planet.

My name is Matthew Ibarra and I am a new intern at SkyTruth. Originally I came to West Virginia University to study mechanical and aerospace engineering. However, as my time at WVU went on I became much less interested in engineering. I developed a passion for renewable energy and decided I wanted to shift my focus of study and work on environmental challenges.

See It, Change It

SkyTruth 2020: What to Expect in the New Year

January 21, 2020/in Bilge Dumping, Biodiversity, Climate, Conservation Vision, Freshwater, Harmful Algal Blooms, Hydraulic Fracturing, Mining, Mountaintop Mining, Natural Gas, Oceans, Oil & Gas, Oil Spill, Protected Area Monitoring, Public Lands /by Amy Mathews

Oil pollution at sea, mountaintop mining, Conservation Vision and more on SkyTruth’s agenda.

SkyTruth followers know that we generated a lot of momentum in 2019, laying the groundwork for major impact in 2020. Here’s a quick list of some of our most important projects underway for the new year: stopping oil pollution at sea, protecting wildlife, identifying poorly reclaimed mine sites, characterizing harmful algal blooms from space, and revealing fossil fuel drilling on public lands.

SkyTruth Spotlight

Christian Thomas Works to Protect his Home State of West Virginia

December 3, 2019/in Biodiversity, Climate, Freshwater, Mining, Mountaintop Mining, Oceans, Offshore, Overfishing and Illegal fishing, Protected Area Monitoring, Team /by Amy Mathews

Christian had a choice: The Peace Corps or SkyTruth. He chose SkyTruth.

“It was no contest,” Christian Thomas told me when I asked him about choosing between the Peace Corps and SkyTruth. Born and raised near Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Christian first met SkyTruth President John Amos at the Shepherdstown Farmer’s Market when he was a student at West Virginia University. When John learned that Christian was studying geography and environmental geoscience, he encouraged Christian to send his resume to SkyTruth.

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New Data Available on the Footprint of Surface Mining in Central Appalachia

November 6, 2019/in Biodiversity, Climate, Freshwater, Mining, Mountaintop Mining /by Christian Thomas

The area of Central Appalachia impacted by surface mining has increased — by an amount equal to the size of Liechtenstein — despite a decline in coal production.

SkyTruth is releasing an update for our Central Appalachian Surface Mining data showing the extent of surface mining in Central Appalachia. New areas continue to be mined, adding to the cumulative impact of mining on Appalachian ecosystems, despite a decline in coal production.

Archive for category: Mountaintop Mining

Mary Anne Hitt has led Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign to extraordinary national success. But she honed her skills in Appalachia, with a little help from SkyTruth.

Matthew thought he wanted to be an aerospace engineer when he started college. Then he learned more about environmental damage to the planet.

Oil pollution at sea, mountaintop mining, Conservation Vision and more on SkyTruth’s agenda.

Christian had a choice: The Peace Corps or SkyTruth. He chose SkyTruth.

The area of Central Appalachia impacted by surface mining has increased — by an amount equal to the size of Liechtenstein — despite a decline in coal production.