Byrds Eye View: Staffers Get Close-Up Views of Mountain Range Removal

	More irreversible damage to the Coal River watershed: At the Bull Creek mine, a double valley fill with what used to be a "natural" ridge in between. Photo by Teresa Perdue

On June 17, Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) announced that several staff members from his Charleston and Washington, D.C. offices were on a three-day fact-finding tour to view mountaintop-removal mining operations firsthand.

The staff met with OVEC members from Mingo, Lincoln, Raleigh and Boone counties, all of whom have generations of ties to the coal industry and all of whom abhor what mountaintop removal is doing to their people and the land.

Thanks so much to the OVEC folks and others who led Byrds staff on eye-opening tours!

If the staff members accurately process what they saw and heard, they will have a greater understanding of

the huge hidden costs associated with mountaintop removal coal mining from flooding to lost communities, from lost economic potential of the mountains to the huge costs of poisoned streams and drinking water.

The staff also met with coal industry representatives. A flyover of several mountaintop removal sites was arranged through SouthWings.

In a statement, Byrd said the staff would "discuss concerns expressed to my office about the impact of mountaintop mining and the severity of damage from the recent floods ...

"I believe it is imperative for my staff and me to hear from all interested parties in West Virginia as we move forward on this debate."