Ill only post an actual opinion here if someone asks. The rest of the time I just do it to piss people off. So here ya go
I actually know that woman. Shes a bit...weird? cooky?, to say the least. They say she just lost it when her husband passed, so I guess I shouldnt be saying that lol. And, personally, shes being more than a little bit melodramatic. 100 yards from her house? give me a break. No laws would allow anything even close to something like that happening, nor would any company in the right mind want to try that and take the chance of getting super sued.
I actually live in Raleigh County, where the stories based out of.
If you compare the mountaintop removal laws and regulations now, to what it was, say 10 or 15 years ago, you would be amazed in the changes to reclamation procedure requirements the government has made to it. Years ago, they didnt make you do jack or shit hardly. Now, it has to be better than when you started pretty much. I just really wish i could fast forward, say, 20 years and show what the land will look like. Now I do agree that you are changing something that cant be put back. You cant just put the top of the mountain back up and say k bye. But I guess its a matter of opinion on whether or not it should be able to be removed in the first place. I, personally, believe it is necessary, to pull out the amounts of coal that is needed to meet the demand of this country, and other countries as well.
Theyve even made use of the mountain removed. Theyve built schools, golf courses, all kinds of stuff on old strip jobs. Some of my favorite hunting lands are on old strips, and I swear it if someone didnt tell you it was a strip job at one time, you wouldnt know the difference. Just beautiful pieces of land.
I guess youve got to weigh both sides of it. Now if they were just mining the mountain out and leavin it as it sat, that would be different. But they are required to (and most spend much more than just required by the government) completely reclaime very inch of that land. Millions upon millions upon millions of dollars. And the way the laws are looking now (and getting more and more strict constantly), I would LOVE to go into the future and see what the land will look like someday. And if they DONT reclaim up to the government's standards, they get fined even more millions and millions. People act like they are just going to leave the land as it sits after they are done, but whatever, you cant change peoples minds.
So, in my opinion, MY opinion, ***with the proper laws and reclamation procedures followed***, yes, I agree with mountain top removal.