Support the Stream Saver Bill
|
|
|
Headwater streams are essential to the quality of our waterways for hundreds of miles downstream, and to our quality of life. The damage from valley fills is irreversible, and the cost to Kentuckians immeasurable. |
Kentucky's waterways are one of our most important and valuable resources
Why do we allow our headwater streams to be buried and permanently destroyed?
We all know the value of water: economically for tourism, industrial and agricultural use; socially for recreation and enjoyment; personally for drinking water and domestic use. But valley fills associated with mountaintop removal coal mining have already buried — under thousands of tons of mining wastes — and permanently destroyed more than 420 miles of Kentucky’s headwater streams.
Some Consequences of Burying Headwater Streams
- Increased flooding, upstream and down
- Increased water treatment costs
- Loss of recreational use
- Increased sedimentation and erosion
- Altered stream chemistry and temperature
- Loss of nutrient sources essential for downstream water quality and aquatic life
(based on the results from the Federal Environmental Impact Study on Mountaintop Removal and other scientific studies)
 |
| “Reclamation” involves turning a vibrant stream into a sterile rock-lined drainage ditch such as this one at the head of Island Creek in Pike County. |
Legislation proposed by KFTC would make sure this doesn’t happen any longer. The Stream Saver Bill would protect our waterways by prohibiting the dumping of mine wastes into any “intermittent, perennial, or ephemeral stream or other water of the Commonwealth.” Mine wastes would be placed back on the mine site as part of the reclamation process already specified in state and federal law — rather than dumped over the side of the hill into valleys and streams and communities below.
Stop burying Kentucky Streams!Put the well-being of Kentucky citizens and communities first! |