Environment

Every day, residents of Eastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia are impacted by coal mining. Examples of these impacts include polluted water; diminished water supplies; damage to property from blasting, landslides, and subsidence; and health impacts associated with dust and water pollution. Many of these problems are preventable if existing laws were enforced by the agencies entrusted with the duty to enforce them. ACLC works with residents in both states who seek redress for their injuries and proper enforcement of environmental protection laws and who endeavor to challenge a permit application for a mine that would impact them.

ACLC also works closely with other organizations, including Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Alliance for Appalachia, in their efforts to bring lasting change in mining practices in Central Appalachia. ACLC works with these groups to end mountaintop removal and the devastating process of dumping rock and dirt and other mine waste into headwater streams in Central Appalachia. ACLC also works with these and other coalfield organizations to push for more protective permitting and enforcement practices at the state level and from the OSM and the EPA.

ACLC also engages with other regional and national groups in strategic litigation aimed to ensure that the laws are followed that guarantee that citizens are protected from environmental harms associated with coal mining.

Below are photographs of mountaintop removal mining in Virginia and West Virginia. All photos are courtesy of Robert Llewellyn and SouthWings.