As shown here, mountaintop removal systematically blasts apart and dismantles entire mountaintops to access multiple seams of coal (top left). The remaining rock is dumped into valleys below (bottom right), burying over 1,000 miles of streams to date. The highly automated process employes far fewer people than traditional underground coal mining.

Appalachian Voices flight courtesy of SouthWings. photo by Kent Kessinger

Click here to see more photos from Pickering Knob, WV

This photo is part of the National Memorial for the Mountains photo stream, hosted by www.ilovemountains.org.