About LEAF

LEAF's Mission:

To bring the issue of mountaintop removal (MTR) to the attention of East Tennessee’s Christian communities and encourage them to address the environmental destruction and economic injustice this practice inflicts on the land and people of Appalachia. LEAF is building an e-mail fellowship of Christian environmentalists from many different congregations who can respond quickly to critical policy changes as they arise within our state.

Why now?

Until recently, mountaintop removal (also known as cross-ridge mining) has been practiced on a fairly limited basis in the state of Tennessee. But with coal prices surging, coal companies are poised to dramatically expand their operations within our state. Now is our only chance to stop, or at least minimize, the destruction of entire mountain ranges in East Tennessee.

Why is MTR worse than other types of mining?

It’s rapid and unbelievably destructive. In a matter of months, entire ridgelines vanish. First, a mountain is cleared of all trees, then dynamite is used to blow from 800 to 1,000 feet off the mountaintop. Any water sources within the mountain --- springs and other headwaters --- are destroyed, thus permanently altering the hydrology of the mountain and the waterways downstream. In Tennessee, coal companies are required to “re-contour” the mountain, that is, pile much of what was removed back on top of the mine site. But as one observer noted, “A mountain of rubble does not make a mountain.”

After mining is completed, invasive, non-native grasses are sown in an attempt to stabilize the slopes. Tree reclamation on these sites is largely unsuccessful and federal studies have never found functioning headwaters recreated on MTR sites. Mountaintop removal is turning Appalachia’s mountains into grasslands at a frightening rate. In West Virginia, aerial surveys show that roughly 20 percent of the mountains in the southern part of that state have been flattened. Says author, Wendell Berry: “These are scars on the land that will not be healed in any length of time imaginable by humans.”

Why is this a social justice issue?

Few jobs are created with this method of mining, so communities surrounding an MTR site receive few benefits and are left with a permanently degraded environment. Companies can legally mine up to 300 feet from homes; blasting in proximity to residences frays nerves, cracks foundations, and causes wells to dry up. As a result, property values plummet. Airborne dust and debris from mining operations cause illness, as does groundwater contamination. Because slopes are laid bare, flooding dramatically increases in areas surrounding MTR sites, and the state’s taxpayers, not the mining companies, bear the costs of cleanup.

People look at the word “environment,” and “automatically think of streams, trees and mountains,” says Kentuckian, Silas House. “But an environment is also made up of people.” We need to remember “the children who do not have good water to drink and the people who travel unsafe roads or live beneath sites that have already sent boulders crashing through their homes.” We need to call into account “a government that prefers to produce coal in the quickest, cheapest way, rather than find a safe, more efficient and respectful method, one which would also create jobs for the region.”

Why is this a faith issue?

The Earth is the Lord’s! (Psalm 24:1) Communities of faith have a reason beyond self-interest for caring for creation. The earth is not ours; it belongs to God.

In Kathy Lindquist’s words: “Where God put a mountain, do we have the right to remove it?” Let us pray, “that in our hubris, we will not tear down the mountains and choke the streams that God created.”