Twilight, March 21, 2009
High Resolution Mountaintop Removal Pictures

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Photos by Vivian Stockman; Flyover courtesy SouthWings

For permission to use photos (non-profit groups, school, students, low-income organization)
or to purchase one-time photo-use rights (for-profit groups) contact vivian@ohvec.org.
Note: high res images have been compressed slightly to improve download
speed for most browsers.  Original digital images are available on request.

Twilight and Lindytown are in close proximity along County Highway 26 in Boone County. A coal company's "ponds," visible here, are also visible as you drive along the road between the two communities.

Residents believe longwall mining drained the water from a stream that runs along the road...well now, it's usually just rocks where a stream once ran.

Deep coal mining has long gone on in the area, but mountaintop removal coal mining has been coming closer and closer.

Even from the road now, more and more mountaintop removal is visible.

But from the air, the extent of the mining is of course easier to see, although the effects of the blasting are sadly far too noticeable on the ground.

The coal companies have made offers to buy out homes repeatedly. People who have lived in, lived off and loved this land -- and whose ancestors for generations have done the same -- do not want to leave, do not want to see their heritage destroyed.

Lindytown may soon be a ghost town. As the mountaintop removal mines approach, life at the beloved old homeplace becomes unbearable.