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Johnny Cash and Carters -Were You There When They Crucufied My Lord



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmBqIlXUo2A

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Johnny Cash - How Great Thou Art

These 6 posts are materials from which to select for post on the damnable mountain killers.

Bingham Canyon mine - Utah - what they've done to the mountain top.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_mining#Strip_mining

excerpts:

Open-pit mining

Main article: Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. Although open-pit mining is sometimes mistakenly referred to as "strip mining", the two methods are different .

Mountaintop removal

Main article: Mountaintop removal mining

Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a relatively new form of coal mining that involves the mass restructuring of earth in order to reach the coal seam as deep as 1,000 feet below the surface. It is used where a coal seam outcrops all the way around a mountain top. All the rock and soil above the coal seam are removed and the soil placed in adjacent lows such as hollows or ravines. Mountaintop removal replaces previously steep topography with a relatively level surface.

The technique has been used increasingly in recent years in the Appalachian coal fields of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee in the United States. The profound changes in topography and disturbance of pre-existing ecosystems have made mountaintop removal highly controversial.

Advocates of mountaintop removal point out that once the areas are reclaimed as mandated by law, the technique provides premium flat land suitable for many uses in a region where flat land is at a premium. They also maintain that the new growth on reclaimed mountaintop mined areas is better able to support populations of game animals.^[1]

Critics contend that mountaintop removal is a disastrous practice that benefits a small number of corporations at the expense of local communities and the environment. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency environmental impact statement finds that streams near valley fills from mountaintop removal contain high levels of minerals in the water and decreased aquatic biodiversity.^[2] The statement also estimates that 724 miles of Appalachian streams were buried by valley fills from 1985 to 2001.^[2]

In common with other methods of coal mining, processing the coal mined by mountaintop removal generates waste slurry (also called coal sludge), which is usually stored behind a dam on-site. Many coal slurry impoundments in West Virginia exceed 500 million gallons in volume, and some, including the Brushy Fork impoundment in Raleigh County, exceed 7 billion gallons.^[3] Such impoundments can be hundreds of feet high and be in close proximity to schools or private residences.^[4] The most controversial sludge dam at present sits 400 yards above Marsh Fork Elementary School. The sludge pond is permitted to hold 2.8 billion gallons of toxic sludge, and is 21 times larger than the pond which killed 125 people in the Buffalo Creek Flood.^[5]

Kentucky's Martin County Sludge Spill occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000 when a coal sludge impoundment broke through into an underground mine below, propelling 306 million gallons of sludge down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River. The spill polluted hundreds of miles of waterways, contaminated the water supply for over 27,000 residents, and killed all aquatic life in Coldwater Fork and Wolf Creek.

Blasting at a mountaintop removal mine expels coal dust and fly-rock into the air, which can then disturb or settle onto private property nearby. This dust contains sulfur compounds, which corrodes structures and tombstones and is a health hazard.^[6]

Although MTR sites are usually reclaimed after mining is complete, reclamation has traditionally focused on stabilizing rock and controlling erosion, but not reforesting the area with trees.^[7] Quick-growing, non-native grasses, planted to quickly provide vegetation on a site, compete with tree seedlings, and trees have difficulty establishing root systems in compacted backfill.^[2] Consequently, biodiversity suffers in a region of the United States with numerous endemic species.^[8] Erosion also increases, which can intensify flooding. In the Eastern United States, the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative works to promote the use of trees in mining reclamation.^[9]

Environmental and health issues

The large impact of surface mining on the topography, vegetation, and water resources has made it highly controversial.

Surface mining is subject to state and federal reclamation requirements, but adequacy of the requirements is a constant source of contention. Unless reclaimed, surface mining can leave behind large areas of infertile waste rock (i.e. it generates 75% of industrial waste in Spain).^{[citation needed]}

In the United States, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 mandates reclamation of surface coal mines. Reclamation for non-coal mines, is regulated by state and local laws, which may vary widely.

Human health

Surface mining creates problems for the human health: gases, dust in suspension, noises and vibrations from the machines and explosions, that can create lung or nervous diseases.^{[citation needed]}

Labels: open pit-mountain removal mining

It doesn't matter if you are an agnostic or athiest or a devout true believer. It doesn't matter if you believe all the incredible diversity, beauty and magnificence of our world came about as a series of accidents, was the work of Intelligent Design, or of the Power of the Universe. It doesn't matter; all that matters is that it IS, it exists, and is the most perfect and wonderful home for humanity and life. The song is apt.

Personally I believe there is a Higher Power. Science proves that there is power in the universe beyond our comprehension. I find it hard to believe that such power employs its time meddling in the minutiae of Mankind's lives. Do I believe in Faith and the power of prayer? Yes, I do, although perhaps a bit outside what I was taught in church. Do I believe that Jesus was the Messiah or just a wise teacher who tried to teach people how to live in peace and harmony in a civilized manner? I darn sure don't believe in the distortions of the man and his teachings as preached by the Jesus Freaks and the Fundies. Do I believe in an afterlife? I darn well hope so!

And if there is indeed an afterlife, a Heaven, I will fall on my knees and give thanks for the magnificent home planet we were given, and fall on my face begging forgiveness for the way we humans destroyed it. And furthermore, beg if there is any justice in the universe at all, for the Power to zap the crap out of all the greedy destroyers!!


Johnny Cash - How Great Thou Art



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Labels: how great thou art

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