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Originally published November 9 2006

Conservation group aims to end destruction of mountaintops by mining operations

by Ben Kage

(NaturalNews) The conservation group Appalachian Voices has begun a crusade against mountain top removal coal mining -- a drastic mining technique where explosives are used to detonate entire mountains -- with the cooperation of several mountain conservation groups, through an educational web site at www.ILoveMountains.org

Visitors to the site can browse information from Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, and Save Our Cumberland Mountains. There are also a multitude of music, pictures and videos in the site's multimedia section.

The problem with mountain top removal mining is that the sites are huge and destructive. The site notes that such operations have already destroyed hundreds of miles of the Appalachian Mountains and contaminated river headwaters that supply hundreds of people with drinking water. To get an idea of the scale of a mountain top removal mining operation, one of the features on the site allows visitors to see a picture of a mountain top removal mine overlaid on a picture of a major American city. Web users can also download Google Earth, a free global photographic map, to observe the mountains that have already fallen victim to these mining operations.

Videos or pictures cannot display at least one effect of the mining operations, and that is the amount of money made from such operations. The ILoveMountains.org site also gives voters a chance to see just who in Congress is benefiting from mountain top removal mining, and by how much.

Along with the educational information, the site supplies ways to fight the problem, including an online petition against the practice. For those who wish to support the use of spiritual energy in protecting America's mountains, there is also a link to prayers, poems and stories from everyday people who have been touched by these natural giants.

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