Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Quarry fight in Kentucky

There's a legal battle going on in Meade County, Ky., over a limestone quarry. The Courier-Journal of Louisville has the latest.

The part I find interesting is this part, from the bottom of the story:

The quarry would be one of several in what’s known as “quarry alley” about 45 miles west of Louisville. The area’s high quality limestone is valued by electric utilities, which use it as the key ingredient for scrubbing sulfur dioxide from smokestacks.

While the limestone is used to reduce acid rain and lung-damaging air pollution, mining has flattened hills and left deep scars.
According to Bell and some of his neighbors, the mining is wrecking the rural and scenic character of an area known as Big Bend.


That's something I would like to check out in person.

Discontent on the Mon

People on the Monongahela River are talking about how they need their locks repaired as soon as possible, meaning before the estimated date of 2030.

And here's something I didn't know: Coal is hauled by train from mines in Virginia to the Huntington, W.Va., area to be loaded onto barges and taken up the Mon. How 'bout that.