Study pans mountaintop removal for coal

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The author of an environmental study on U.S. coal mining said the practice of mountaintop removal "has got to be stopped."

"Until somebody can show that the water (running from mining sites) can be cleaned up … this has got to be stopped," said Margaret Palmer, at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and a lead author of a paper published by the journal Science, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Mountaintop removal is just as it sounds -- the wholesale removal of a mountaintop, which is sometimes replaced and sometimes left in its altered condition.

The problem comes with water filtering through the debris that contains toxins normally filtered out through root-bearing soil, the study said.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a mountaintop removal permit to Hobet Mining Inc., which was criticized by environmentalists.

Palmer said, "the science is clearly against," the EPA's position that the mining technique was safe.

The study found rainwater that filters through mine sites and the rubble that builds up in streams contains sulfates, which are toxic to aquatic insects and fish.

"To us, it's like smoking and cancer. It's just so clear-cut," Palmer said.