Mountain Top Removal
Most of my family is from coal country.
My Great-Grandfather was the Chief of the Bureau of Mines of West Virginia. He was a brilliant mining engineer who developed new standards for mine safety and through a innovative approach to fresh air management, helped save the lives of miners trapped in the Hawk's Nest Tunnel incident.
I am not sure if he would approve of mountain top removal for coal.
It is a terrifically damaging process to the environment. Th overburden is often dumped in hollows and impacts streams and watershed.
This work, shot in southern West Virginia, was originally published in Audubon magazine.
Two of the images are in the Coal + Ice exhibition that has traveled from China to France and will be presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in the spring of 2022.