Lost Mountain (pg1-85)

In the book Lost Mountain, Eric Reece, provides a first hand perspective of the devastation of mountian tops in the process of strip mining to collect coal used for various sources of energy. In particular, Reece examines the effects that this process has on "Lost Mountain," a mountain located in the forests of Appalachia. After watching the process that the minors go though to strip the top of the mountain, Reece (who had previously worked in the coal industry in a power plant with his father), describes the devestating decrease in the amount of wildlife, trees, and overall health of those living around the mountain. In a particular story told by Reece, he describes how miners once took a famous warber, the canary, into the mines in cages because the birds were highly sensitive to odorless methane gas (secreted by coal). If there began to be too much methane in the underground mine shaft, the canary would stop singing, warning the miner's that they may be in immediate danger. Reece then relates this story into Lost Mountain. The bird native to the mountain, is that of a Cerulean Warbler. He says that the number of birds are drastically decreasing due to the deforestion of trees in their habitit and that these once vocal birds are no longer siging, signifiying the amount of methane that is being leaked into the mountain air. This leads into another one of Reece's arguments for the stop of mountain top removal which is the effect it is having on those citizens living around the mountains. With the amount of pollution (methane) being produced in the process of harvesting the coal, the amount of cancer and deaths (related to cancer and injuries caused by coal mining) has increased dramatically.He provides one example of a women names Teri Blanton, who's two children were constantly sick (measle like rashes) caused by the groundwater around their home being polluted with "volatile organic chemicals" caused by the coal company's coal wastes. Not only is this process causing many animals to loose their homes or lives, but it is also doing the same thing to the people in the local areas. Houses around the mountain are being destroyed by landslides caused by loose rock that was broken up to clear the top of the mountain. But every issue has two sides. Reece provides arguments for those pro-strip mining that don't necessarily agree with Reeces viewpoints. Those in favor of the mining say that in order to produce the cheapest form of energy (coal), then strip minging must continue stating that coal is the cheapest energy source by far. Besides being a money saver, the clearing of the land also provides opportunity for growth in the forms of retail and development. Developers can now place stores and other profit making entities in places that were once stricly forests. So, you see, money is the key argument of those supporting the strip mining. After reading these chapter's on the devastation of Appalachia, I can relate personally to something similar. Living out by farmlands and wild life preserves, I too see many natural lands being destroyed to make room for more housing developments and retail spaces. Many of our local wildlife has now become scarce or non-existant which is ashame to see when this was once someplace where people came and visited nature. Seeing some deforstation first hand, I agree with Reece on his stance of protecting the mountain tops and stoping the strip mining from occuring, because once the trees, animals, and natural habitats are gone, they never come back and are never truely the same.