FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2012
Contact:
Sean Sarah, Sierra Club, 202 548-4589 sean.sarah@sierraclub.org
Mountaintop-Removal
Coal Shipped Overseas at Alarming Rate While Locals Pay the Price
Congressional Report Shows Increasing Amounts of Coal Sold
Overseas
Washington, D.C. – Today, Edward Markey, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee released a report entitled “Our Pain, Their Gain” that exposes the explosion of coal exports from Appalachia over the last few years.
In response Ed Hopkins, Environmental Quality Program Director of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
"Every day, people living near mountaintop-removal sites suffer serious health impacts from that destructive practice. Three-quarters of the coal taken from the ground in Appalachia is exported, as Congressman Markey's report shows, and these exports have been growing rapidly. But the health burdens associated with mountaintop removal mining -- including high rates of birth defects, cancer and serious respiratory disease -- stay with Appalachians who live near these mines.
Coal companies in Appalachia feed their bottom line by sending coal around the world while leaving Americans to face the real human and environmental costs. This report underscores the need for key decision makers to stop the devastating health and environmental threats associated with mountaintop-removal mining."
The full report “Our Pain, Their Gain” can be found here: http://democrats.naturalresources.house.gov/sites/democrats.naturalresources.house.gov/files/documents/Our_Pain_Their_Gain1.pdf
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