A group of environmental activists want to stop mountaintop coal mining in the Appalachians, and put pressure Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation today.
In mountain-top-removal mining, coal companies dynamite an entire area and then sift the rubble for coal, instead of digging shafts to get the ore.
Chancellor Gee is on the board of Virginia-Based Massey Energy, a company doing this type of mining in West Virginia. Joe Overton is spokesman for Mountain Justice Summer, one of the groups working on the mountain top removal issue. Overton says the group wants Gee to help them stop mountain top mining.
“He’s the chair of the Environment and Public Policy Committee which indicates that he does have some authority if he were to be on our side and take a stand against mountain top removal that’s devastating west Virginia, that he would be in some position to make some positive change.”
Gee wasn’t at Vanderbilt today, so Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs, Mike Schoenfeld accepted the group’s letter on Gee’s behalf and thanked the group.
The group is also protesting National Coal which does mountain top mining in Tennessee. The group says this type of mining dumps large amounts of sediment into surrounding streams, destroying the water quality. The group wants T-DEC to enforce water quality laws already on the books to deny permits to mining companies.
The group says they’re taking their concerns to the Governor tomorrow.
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