Almost Heaven West Virginia
Tuesday, 03/31/2009

These are just a few of the majestic mountains that the infamous fight over mountaintop mining is being waged.
 
I can’t blame anybody for wanting to protect these. I am born and raised in WV and love our state as much as anybody.
 
We must compromise…we as a nation demand energy…we must have the economic stability that the mining industry brings...we must find a way to protect our environment as well as the jobs so desperately needed in this fragile economy...



By the way…this is a reclaimed mountaintop mining operation.  Not what you usually see portrayed in the media.
 
There are two reclaimed valley fills in this picture…not the vision of waste rock dumped in streams the media would like you to believe. I agree that during the active mining operation, surface mining is an eye sore but what construction site isn’t? Highways, retail and housing developments, etc. all create disturbance during construction. As shown here, surface mining techniques restore the land to pre-mining conditions with remarkable success.
 
Give the coal industry its due and give the public the WHOLE truth about surface mining.
Thank you…and please pass this on … and feel free to leave my name attached to this email….I am proud to be associated with the mining industry.

Regards,

Jeffrey A. Almond
Marshall Miller & Associates