Mountaintop removal mining is a complex issue while being totally destructive in almost every aspect. The coal mined does not justify destroying mountains that formed nearly 480 million years and then completing artificial reclamation that cannot replace or due justice for what was lost during the destruction. The monetary gain from mining does not compensate for the destruction and the health effects of the environment and people. Massey Energy is inadvertently influencing the deterioration of the local lives, and treating them as a lesser people because a greater amount of people are being benefited from the mining (Holcomb). The documentary also pointed out that not only are the communities of West Virginia influenced, but the tributaries carry contaminants downstream to influence other ecosystems and people. Currently, our economy and lives cannot run on renewables so our lives depend on electricity generated from coal to run our hospitals, freeze our food, and keep us out of the dark.
Massey was able to lobby in the
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After the mountains there will be the another coal mining site. Nearly every American is a part of the issue since we rely on electricity daily and demand that it is reliable, and easily accessible across the continental United States. We are the problem. The documentary did give brief alternative to meeting energy needs which would be done by constructing windmills along mountain ridges. No one person in the documentary mentioned that the aesthetic value would go down after constructing windmills. Immediately I began to think of the “not in my backyard” that many people protest the eyesores that can dominate a landscape. The citizens had made a choice that placing windmills along the mountain would be better than mining and reclamation of the mountain, which I think is saying