Kennedy and Coal Executive Debate Mountaintop Removal Mining

Environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., debating a leading coal mining executive, called mountaintop removal coal mining “the worst environmental crime that has ever happened in our history” and called on West Virginians to begin “transitioning to a new energy economy.” Kennedy debated Don Blankenship, the blunt-spoken president of Massey Energy, before an overflow crowd of 1,000 people at the University of Charleston. Kennedy assailed mountaintop removal mining, which involves blasting the tops off mountains to get at coal seams below; to date, 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been buried in mining debris and more than 1 million acres of forests have been severely damaged. Noting that Massey Energy has paid $20 million in fines for violating the Clean Water Act, Kennedy asked if mountaintop removal mining could be done without breaking the law. Blankenship said his company is “doing everything we can to comply with the law every day” and he held up a plastic bottle of clear water and said its contents were typical of the clean runoff from mountaintop removal sites. Kennedy noted that mountaintop removal, a highly mechanized practice, has led to a large loss of mining jobs and he called on the state to embrace renewable energy production that would create new employment. Watch a video report.