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Finalist
Katie Falkenberg
The Washington Times

"THE HUMAN TOLL: MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING"


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Finalist
Katie Falkenberg
The Washington Times


"THE HUMAN TOLL: MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING"

Water barrels like this are a common site on the porches of homes in the town of Prenter, West Virginia, where the water has been contaminated by what is believed to be a result of the combination of decades of mountaintop and underground mining. Water tests have discovered high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, manganese, and other chemicals in the residents' wells, the same chemicals that are found in coal slurry -- what is left over after coal is cleaned. The slurry is held in holding ponds or injected into abandoned mine shafts underground. Many believe that the blasting has disrupted the geological strata to allow seepage of this slurry into their water table. The community came together to raise funds for these barrels to be filled with clean water to use for drinking and cooking.

 

 

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