By Tanya Snyder
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wuky/local-wuky-845846.mp3
Washington, DC – Moutaintop removal operations often fill streams and rivers in the valleys below with the rubble from the broken-up mountains they blast. Environmentalists like Maria Gunnoe worry about the health effects from the chemicals in the sediment that fills the rivers. She testified at a hearing on Capitol Hill.
"The blasting is one nightmare. But the water pollution is horrible. "
Teri Blanton of the grassroots group, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, traveled to Washington to hear the panel.
"We've lost over 200 mountains in Kentucky. Over 1400 miles of headwater streams have been directly impacted by mountaintop removal."
The Water and Wildlife Subcommittee will soon hold another hearing to look at a bipartisan bill that would outlaw mountaintop removal mining.