MTR

Mountaintop removal coal mining photographs

[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f01aerialblast.jpg]5860AERIAL BLAST
Perry County, Kentucky, 2006From the airplane: the ferocity of dust and rock flyingas another blast for coal cuts into the Appalachianmountain landscape in Perry County, where thousandsof acres have been strip mined.Flight by SouthWings.Flight by SouthWings.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f02coalisking.jpg]3340COAL IS KING!
Kentucky, 2006The push for more and more mining for coal isdestroying the landscape of Eastern Kentucky.Mechanization means fewer jobs and more poverty.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f03cumberlandplateau.jpg]2710CUMBERLAND PLATEAU
Letcher County, Kentucky, 2007On the way up Pine Mountain to Bad Branch, the beautifulmountain tops of the Cumberland Plateau, floating abovethe clouds on a July morning.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f04kentuckyslunarlandscape.jpg]2470KENTUCKY'S LUNAR LANDSCAPE
Perry County, Kentucky, 2006In early morning fog, this mountaintop removal site, easily seenfrom Highway 80 between Hazard and Hindman, lookslike a lunar landscape.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f05daymonmorgan.jpg]2530DAYMON MORGAN, 2006
Leslie County, Kentucky, 2006Daymon Morgan continues to work tirelessly to protectthe citizens of Eastern Kentucky. Now his own farm,isolated by the devastation of mountaintop removal mining,is threatened with destruction.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f06daymonmorgannurturing.jpg]2380DAYMON MORGAN: Nurturing the Mountaintop Forest on the Edge of Destruction
Leslie County, Kentucky, 2006Daymon Morgan lovingly holds the rich forest loam fromhis healthy forest. All around his farm they are blasting offthe tops of the mountains he calls home.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f07daymonschestnuttree.jpg]2280DAYMON MORGAN'S AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREE
Leslie County, Kentucky, 2006Daymon Morgan is planting disease-resistant AmericanChestnut trees in his mountaintop forest full of forestloam and medicinal plants. Right above there are hugecuIs in the neighboring mountains.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f08runningred.jpg]2160RUNNING RED
Leslie County, Kentucky, 2006Across the lane from Daymon Morgan's garden plotthe water is running red from the devastation above him.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f09flatlands.jpg]2220FLATLANDS
Perry County, Kentucky, 2006With a puff of smoke shot into the sky, the horizonis changed, the mountaintop is gone, the forest isdestroyed, the streams are filled...[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f10goinggoinggone.jpg]2050GOING, GOING, GONE!
Perry County, Kentucky, 2006The awesome scale of mountaintop removal mining….[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f11dusttodust.jpg]2720DUST TO DUST
Perry County, Kentucky, 2007It’s a terrible sin to destroy a gift that you could not make orreplace yourself, that is not given to you except in trustfor those who are still to come.—Wendell Berry[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f12marsorthemoon.jpg]2270MARS OR THE MOON?
Perry County, Kentucky, 2006No, not a moonscape, just a Kentucky mountaintopremoval site as chronicled by Erik Reece in Lost Mountain.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f13samgilbert.jpg]2240SAM GILBERT ON BLACK MOUNTAIN
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007A deer crossing Black Mountain nowwould have to pack his lunch! – Sam Gilbert of Eolia, Kentucky[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f14coaltruckonblackmtn.jpg]2440COAL TRUCK ON BLACK MOUNTAIN
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007Sam Gilbert's precious Black Mountain is now riddledwith coal trucks and mining roads.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f15meetingacoldtruck.jpg]2390MEETING A COAL TRUCK
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007These enormous coal trucks tear up the roads, are a huge dangeron mountain roads, and create dust in many small towns.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f16topofblackmtnfill.jpg]2130VALLEY FILL ON TOP OF BLACK MOUNTAIN
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007When the top of a mountain is lopped off, usually it is pushedinto an adjacent hollow or valley. These valley fills bury streamswith tons of mining waste. Hundreds of miles of Kentuckyheadwater streams have already been permanently lost in this way. [img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f17crisscrossingblkmtn.jpg]1960CRISSCROSSING BLACK MOUNTAIN
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007Black Mountain is the tallest mountain in Kentucky, hometo flora and fauna that grow nowhere else.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f18dansgraveyard.jpg]2020DAN'S GRAVEYARD
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007That fringe of trees is all that is left of Dan's family graveyard.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f19blackmountainvalleyfill.jpg]1880BLACK MOUNTAIN VALLEY FILL
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007Now that acres and acres of forest and vegetative coverare gone, and headwater streams have been buried andpermanently lost, there is water contamination and acontinual threat of erosion and dangerous flooding forthe people downstream.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f20blackmountainnotadryditch.jpg]1860BLACK MOUNTAIN: Not a Dry Ditch!
Harlan County, Kentucky, 2007We are all downstream! 80% of the Kentucky River watershedis above our Kentucky River farm north of Frankfort.Every headwater stream we lose to a valley fill is part of anetwork of streams collecting water for the communitiesdownstream.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f21redbudmissing.jpg]1860REDBUD MISSING THE MOUNTAIN
Perry County, Kentucky, 2006Redbud trees sparkle in the sunlight on the shoulder of thehighway, in stark contrast to the devastation of this mountaintopremoval site.[img src=http://www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/wp-content/flagallery/mtr/thumbs/thumbs_f22floatingmountains.jpg]1790 FLOATING MOUNTAINS
Letcher County, Kentucky, 2007Floating mountains of the Cumberland Plateau at dawn.