During the inaugural festivities last week, TV viewers were reminded over and over that the White House was built by slaves. What they weren't told is that it's still fueled by mountaintop strip mining, even as President Obama promotes clean energy.

From Gristmill:

"In effect, President Obama and his administration are now connected to one of the most tragic environmental and human rights disasters in American history -- the employment of mountaintop-removal mining methods in Appalachia that have eliminated over 470 mountains and adjacent communities, 1 million acres of hardwood forests, and 1,200 miles of streams from our American maps.
...
In 1970, the first mountaintop-removal operation was launched in Cannelton Hollow. Thirty-eight years later, the quick and dirty option of highly mechanized mountaintop removal has resulted in massive coal-mining job losses, soaring poverty, polluted waterways, and the demise of hope in the Appalachian region.

This destruction has not happened out of need, but a myopic coveting for cheap production. Coal stripped from mountaintop-removal methods provides less than 5 percent of our nationwide coal production; over 50 million tons of coal from West Virginia alone are exported abroad. In fact, any demand for mountaintop-removal coal could easily be handled by production in other states, or simply eliminated through energy-efficiency measures and renewable energy sources.

As former Vice President Al Gore has stated in public, "mountaintop removal is a crime, and ought to be treated as a crime.""

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