Surface mining methods are essentially the same as highway construction.

Valley fills are areas where the rock and dirt from mining excavation is placed according to a plan designed by engineers and approved by government agencies. The fills usually occur in dry stream beds of what are known as ephemeral or intermittent streams – streams that flow only when it rains.

Contrary to what is portrayed in the press, the amount of actual stream loss from fills is minimal. In other words, where most valley fills are placed, there is no actual stream.

Far from the destructiveness portrayed in the mass media, mining operations have actually helped improve habitat for wildlife in Appalachia. Today, we are once again seeing elk and wild horses on former mountaintop mining sites.

Perhaps most important, mountaintop mining has also created numerous sites for new schools, hospitals, shopping centers, parks, golf courses, housing, airports, industry, agriculture and timber – providing southern West Virginia valuable sites for sustainable economic development.

Here is a partial list of sites in West Virginia and Kentucky: