Tell Congress: Pass the ACHE Act and end mountaintop removal mining. | CREDO Action
The coal industry is waging a war on Appalachia, detonating millions of pounds of diesel fuel and explosives daily to rip the top off of mountains and access seams of coal contained within.
Dozens of peer reviewed studies have documented the devastation mountaintop removal mining is wreaking on communities in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee in the form of elevated rates of birth defects and cancer rates nearly triple the national average. Stunning new research also shows a direct connection between the dust from mountaintop removal mining and lung cancer.1
It is time for Congress to intervene by passing the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (ACHE Act), which would place an immediate moratorium on new mountaintop removal mining permits.2
Mountaintop removal is the deadliest and most destructive form of coal mining there is. Explosives are used to blow the tops off of mountains, sending fine particulates of silica, aluminum and molybdenum into nearby communities, and ultimately into the lungs of local residents.
New research from West Virginia University has for the first time shown a direct connection between the inhalation of this dust and cancer. As one of the study’s authors Michael Hendryx explained, “with this study we now have solid evidence that dust collected from residential areas near MTR sites causes cancerous changes to human lung cells.”
In the coming weeks, leaders in the fight to stop mountaintop removal meeting will bring the signatures on this petition to meetings with key congressional staff as they work to build support on Capitol Hill for the ACHE Act. Add your name to the petition today to join the growing campaign to put an end to the coal industry’s war on Appalachia once and for all.
We need a national, coordinated response to the humanitarian disaster of mountaintop removal mining. The ACHE Act, which is the preferred approach of Appalachian leaders who have been fighting mountaintop removal mining for decades, has three main provisions.
First, it would place an immediate, emergency moratorium on any new mountaintop removal mining permits and prohibit the expansion of any existing permits. Second, it would require the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a comprehensive, federal health study. No new permits will be allowed until and unless the U.S. Secretary of Health declares mountaintop removal does not present a harm to human health. Finally, it would require air and water monitoring at all existing mountaintop removal mining sites, with results reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.
It’s a smart approach for beginning to deal with a public health crisis Appalachian communities have faced for far too long – but it needs national grassroots support to gain traction in Congress.
Tell Congress: Pass the ACHE Act and end mountaintop removal mining now.
1. "Mountaintop removal mining is a crime against Appalachia," Al Jazeera America, April 7, 2015.
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/4/mountaintop-removal-mining-a-crime-against-appalachians-health.html
2. "What is the Ache Act?," acheact.org.
http://acheact.org/
Petition
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/end_mtr_ache_act?t=2&akid=14661.2823127.W3R1Wu
x p Envir&Energy, Appalachia