Sharron Angle wishes she would've thought of this first!
[Rand] Paul believes mountaintop removal just needs a little rebranding. "I think they should name it something better," he says. "The top ends up flatter, but we're not talking about Mount Everest. We're talking about these little knobby hills that are everywhere out here. And I've seen the reclaimed lands. One of them is 800 acres, with a sports complex on it, elk roaming, covered in grass." Most people, he continues, "would say the land is of enhanced value, because now you can build on it."
I don't know, this doesn't look all that enhanced to me:
Big Coal wants to keep doing this, so their handiwork can spread throughout more of Appalachia like a malignant tumor.
Hobet Mine, WV, 1984:
Hobet Mine, WV, 2009:
Hearing Rand Paul talk, is it any wonder that Big Coal is mobilizing to spend whatever it takes to get him into office?
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Jack Conway for Senate
p.s. Mark Sumner on the same issue here.