{"id":2298,"date":"2009-05-17T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2009-05-17T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blitransfer.wpengine.com\/?p=2298"},"modified":"2017-06-21T14:23:02","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T19:23:02","slug":"everyones-downstream-maria-gunnoes-appalachia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/2009\/05\/17\/everyones-downstream-maria-gunnoes-appalachia\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Downstream From This: Maria Gunnoe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Appalachia"},"content":{"rendered":"
Imagine if someone came into your neighborhood, blew up a few buildings, took what they wanted and dumped the toxic debris into your drinking water. What would you do? <\/em><\/p>\n Maria Gunnoe and many of the communities in Appalachian West Virginia are dealing with exactly that question. While coal mining has long been important to the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy, Mountaintop Removal mining over the past decade has caused large-scale environmental devastation and dramatically damaged local water.<\/p>\n Everyone downstream from where that mountaintop removal site is gets flooded and their wells are contaminated. My well is contaminated. Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t drink my water. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Maria’s Story <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n