In my homeroom class, we were chosen to create a project for Henrico 21. Our subbject is mountain top removal and it's effects on the environment. Stirp mining, as it is often called, causes major environmental issues. Srtip mining is the process of removing the top of a mountain in order to reach the area of it that has coal. Because the trees are also removed in the process, they plant new ones to hold the soil in place when they are done. these trees are not native to the area, and often wipe out the ones that are. If they don't plant trees, mud slides are very common. When the're done with the project they dump the waste from all the machinery into sludge ponds. The sludge goes into the water table, which eventually ends up in our drinking water.
Our class is writing the governor and signing petitions in order to stop mountain top removal. Please comment and tell us how we can get even more involved with this. The more comments, the better. :)