Although this web site supports people's right to use their own property as they see fit, and although some forms of "surface mining" are small-scale enough that they don't do great harm to other people, the U.S. Department of the Interior has attempted to crack down on strip-mining operations that pollute streams.
http://junkscience.com/2012/03/05/house-to-probe-obama-interior-official-on-job-killing-coal-rule/
"Who needs 100,000 jobs?" Steve Milloy asked rhetorically, supplying a link to a corporation called "Environ":
http://junksciencecom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/environ-sbz-rule-report.pdf
He's also videotaped Ohio's Representative Bill Johnson discussing the jobs issue with Ken Salazar:
http://junkscience.com/2012/02/15/video-ohio-rep-probes-obama-interior-dept-scheme-to-lie-about-coal-industry-job-losses/
He has a good point. What he doesn't seem to be addressing are two alternative possibilities: (1) the miners could adopt slower, more cautious, more labor-intensive methods that cause less pollution, harvest less coal per day, probably accept lower wages per hour, but keep working longer; or (2) everyone involved could commit to supporting the miners' transition to more pleasant kinds of work.
Fair disclosure: this web site has received support from former coal miners and families who've successfully found jobs that are more pleasant than mining...and more profitable than recycling, we're sorry to say. We would love to report that the sewage-burning industry was displacing the traditional coal industry as a source of electric power for the Eastern States, but so far we don't see it happening.
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