In recent decades humans have gained a broader understanding of their environment and the effects they have on it. Despite this, activities such as mountaintop removal still occur. The felling of mountain tops not only harms the environment but also people. The process of mountaintop removal negatively impacts communities, ruins water systems and destroys the natural environment. To understand the effects of mountaintop removal it is important to know the actions that determine them. Starting in the 1970s, a new form of coal mining, mountaintop removal, was invented. The first step in mountaintop removal is clearing topsoil and vegetation. Trees uprooted in this process are burned or dropped into valleys instead of being turned into lumber or paper (“More Information” 2). Explosives are then used to blast large quantities of rock. Sometimes nearly 800 feet of rock can break away from a mountain (“What is it” 1). The coal is removed from the mountain with the use of a $100,000,000 machine called a dragline ("More Information" 2-3). Draglines can be up to twenty stories tall and weigh up to eight million pounds. When the exposed coal is removed, the overburden is discharged into nearby valleys. Millions of tons can be discharged from a single mining operation (“What is it” 1). The water is then used to treat the removed carbon. The water left over from coal processing is called slurry, and storage of this toxic byproduct often consists of containers made from mining debris. Coal slurry is a mixture of water, clay and coal dust. However, it can also contain toxic substances such as lead, copper, arsenic, mercury and chromium ("More information" 3). Protocols for remediating mined areas include revegetation of the surrounding environment… middle of paper… The sand mud breach has been labeled “The largest environmental disaster ever east of the Mississippi” (“Learn More " 4). Mining is not only destroying new areas, but also areas that were supposed to have been restored. The restored areas still showed high bulk density, low organic composition and low nutrient content. Many mined areas had tiny tree regrowth and still showed much less carbon storage capacity (Palmer 2). Mountaintop removal is something that happens every day. While some people may not know its significance, people living in and around the affected areas suffer from it. Clearing mountaintops has a negative effect on communities, ruins water systems and destroys the natural land on which people live. All these reasons should be enough to put an end to this environmentally and morally wrong practice.