Kentucky's lieutenant governor heartily endorses mountaintop-removal strip mining for coal

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has called for dialogue on how to mitigate the impacts of mountaintop-removal coal mining, and some other Democrats want to rein in the practice or largely outlaw it. But Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, whom Beshear chose as his running mate, said in an Appalachian coalfield speech last night that "I see it as a positive," reports the Appalachian News-Express of Pikeville. (State photo shows Mongiardo signing "Pledge to Protect Nature" at 2008 Arbor Day ceremony in state Capitol)

In a speech to an athletic banquet in Pikeville, "Mongiardo ... was very vocal about his support of mountaintop-removal mining, stating that we need flat land in order to develop into a national leader" in energy development, Justin Holbrook writes, quoting the lieutenant governor, a physician and former state senator from Hazard, another coalfield town:

“A lot of people look at mountaintop removal as a negative, but I see it as a positive. We need to stop apologizing for coal. We don’t want to defend mountaintop removal, but I want us to promote mountain top removal, because we need flat land. We cannot have economic expansion without places to do things and part of mountaintop removal is for places like hospitals, airports and different type of merchants.”

Mongiardo then switched to his favorite topic of late, adventure tourism: "We can put people on horseback, mountain bikes, foot and four-wheelers in Eastern Kentucky, which as you and I know, is one of the most beautiful areas in this country. There is no place prettier than going to the top of the hills and looking out across Eastern Kentucky. I can't wait for people from across the world to come and see what natural resources we have, and it’s not in spite of coal but because of coal." (Read more)

Mongiardo's remarks brought an e-mail blast from Appalachian lawyer and coal-industry watchdog Tony Oppegard: "Mongiardo is an intelligent man. Yes, Eastern Kentucky is one of the most beautiful places in the world. But if MTR mining continues, does he really believe that tourists are going to flock to eastern Kentucky to look at our once-beautiful but now devastated mountains that resemble moonscapes? He must be out of his mind."

Oppegard didn't mention other arguments against many huge mountaintop-removal and "area" mines, which have similar impacts: They are too far from infrastructure to be economically developed; the amount of developable land being created is more than the region can ever use; the typical reclamation into grassland destroys forever a forest environment that has one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity; valley fills bury headwater streams and watercourses forever; and stream sedimentation from mining creates water-pollution and flooding problems downstream. For the other side of the story, from the Kentucky Coal Association, click here.