Demand a moratorium on mountaintop removal

Jul 20, 2011

Contact the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Department of Justice to demand a moratorium on mountaintop removal mining. Recent scientific studies have associated mountaintop removal with increased rates of birth defects, cancer clusters and increased mortality rates. The coal industry has responded by calling the studies "bogus" and by blaming the increased incidence of birth defects on inbreeding -- an inaccurate and insulting assertion. When national media called Big Coal out on this astounding insult, the National Mining Association responded by hiring a firm to "debunk" the studies -- the same firm that claimed asbestos isn't harmful and secondhand smoke doesn't cause cancer.

There is a public health crisis in the central Appalachian coalfields. Take action for a moratorium on mountaintop removal mining and call on the federal government to undertake a comprehensive study of the public-health effects of this devastating form of mining.