The Mining Dilemna

This article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/science/earth/16westvirginia.html?_r=1&ref=science

    In another battle between the contemporary American’s way of life and the environmental impact of such a culture, the EPA has advised against a mountaintop removal mining project in West Virginia—a venture that would open up jobs for hundreds and stimulate a struggling economy, but would also destroy local ecosystems.
   
    This is a controversial issue, and the writer John M. Broder does a good job making the conflict clear and providing both sides of the story. He starts out with a lead that basically says it all: “A top federal regulator has recommended revoking the permit for one of the nation’s largest planned mountaintop removal mining projects, saying it would be devastating to miles of West Virginia streams and the plant and naimal life they support.” What follows are: a quick background of the mining project and its specifics, quotes from both the EPA and the mining company Arch Coal, and plans for the future. Broder mentions the possibility of a compromise but also suggests that this is only the beginning of a very long process. He ends with a statement from the executive director of the Sierra Club that sums the whole situation up, which is nice because it serves as Broder’s final summarizing statement and leaves the reader with the essence of the story: “This mother of all mountaintop removal coal mines would destroy thousands of acres of land, bury seven miles of streams and end a way of life for too many Appalachian families.”