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Just when you thought coal companies couldn’t get any worse, they’ve come up with a way to use your tax dollars to blow up mountains.

Their sneaky plan: take $2 billion of federal funds to build the Coalfields Expressway through rural Southwest Virginia. Coal companies will use mountaintop removal mining to flatten the area to make way for the road, while they keep the profits from the coal they extract.

The Federal Highway Administration is reviewing Big Coal’s plan right now. Tell them we don’t want our tax dollars to fund destructive mountaintop removal coal mining!

Construction of the Coalfields Expressway won’t serve the public – the route was designed to help a coal company called Alpha Natural Resources access coal reserves.¹ It bypasses local communities and threatens to remove the through traffic local businesses depend on.

The Expressway will bury at least 12 miles of streams and condemn hundreds of acres of land. All the while, Alpha Natural Resources will be able to avoid basic mining regulations.²

Don’t let Big Coal destroy our streams and our mountains. Urge the Federal Highway Administration to stand up for Appalachia today.

Appalachians have suffered enough at the hands of Big Coal. The Coalfields Expressway will only lead to more polluted water and destruction. The last day to submit comments on the proposal is this Thursday, August 24th.

Tell the Highway Administration to look at the environmental and community impacts of the Coalfields Expressway before they approve the project.

Thanks for all you do to protect our environment!

Sincerely,

Mary Anne Hitt
Beyond Coal Campaign
Sierra Club

P.S. After you take action, forward this message or spread the word on Facebook and Twitter by clicking our handy share buttons below:

[1] Cameron, Susan. “Crowd views proposed route changes to Coalfields Expressway” TriCities.com. August 14, 2012.

[2] “Guidelines for Coal Removal Associated with Government Financed Construction” Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, Division of Mined Land Reclamation and Division of Mines. June 2005.