Sculpting the Earth? NOT!

My wife, Carter Seaton, and I attended a prayer vigil on top of Kayford Mountain on Saturday, October 20th. We were stunned by the scene of destruction we witnessed. The Friends of Coal call it "Sculpting the Mountains"; we call it an environmental disaster!

Carter sent the following email to her family members, friends and especially to the ones who no longer live in West Virginia. I wanted to share it with you:

Dear Friends and Family and especially those of you who no longer live in WV,

These photos were taken on Saturday, October 20, at Kayford Mountain just south of Charleston at the head of Cabin Creek. It's the most appalling scene of destruction you can imagine and the photos don't do it justice. This is what Mountaintop Removal looks like up close and personal. Yet the coal companies euphemistically refer to it as "sculpting the earth."

We were told that within two months, the trees on the mountains behind this awful pit - now some 400 - 600 feet in depth would be gone as well. The site changes weekly as they eat away at the mountain and push the land into the valley so they can run the trucks on it to haul out the coal. The tallest piece of earth moving equipment in the photo is 80 feet tall and it looks like a Matchbox car. The results of their reconstruction and reclamation efforts are pitiful. Where are our trees? Do you think they'll ever be back? Not likely.

If you want to help stop this devastation, please go to websites about how to reduce your energy dependence and do something, anything to try to help. I hope you are as moved as were Richard and I when we were there.

Carter

Is this a "Neighborhood Issue"? You bet! Remember, the mountains and forests of West Virginia are a part of every West Virginian's neighborhood!