Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) is a relatively new form
of coal mining which takes the mountain off the coal. Up
to 1,000 vertical feet of local relief are blasted away to
get to the thin coal seams underneath. MTR requires that
the targeted land be clear-cut and then blasted by heavy
use of explosives. The debris created is typically scraped
into the adjacent river valleys in what is called a valley
fill. Most mountaintop removal in the United States occurs
in West Virginia.
