waste

the other day i was talking with someone that commended my work/activism for MTR.
she mentioned that she was from eastern ky, and her parents live in north eastern ky.

the significance? she mentioned that there was no coal (or at least none worth mining) where her parents currently live, but they still blow up the mountains there. why? for gravel.
as sad as it is that they blow up mountains for gravel, its just one more thing to add to the draw backs of MTR coal mining as far as im concerned.

from an objective point of view. if we HAVE to get the coal, and we HAVE to do it by removing the mountain top, it seems logical (and not only environmentally sound, but also economically) to harvest the trees, but instead theyre dumped over the side (into the streams).
and now that its brought to my attention how gravel is ... harvested? (why had i never thought of this?) all of the shale and sediment below the top soil (which is likely the richest in the nation and could probably be sold as well) could be gathered and sold as well, instead of blowing up completely different mountains for that.

all sorts of birds. one stone.

but instead, we strip forests from one area.
blow up mountains for gravel in another.
and distant from all that, were tossing mountains into valleys for coal.