MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_996257.jpg
Bulldozers fill trucks with excess rock at a small mountaintop removal site in Man, West Virginia, where a small crew is mining coal in a site in Logan County that was left by a large coal company as rubble. Mine operator Gordon Justice said, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."
Large mining operations are only visible from the air, although coal and debris are removed using enormous earth-moving machines known as draglines that stand 22 stories tall and can hold 24 compact cars in its bucket. The machines can cost up to $100 million, but are favored by coal companies because they can do the work of hundreds of employees. A small operation like this one can keep 17 employees working for five years and making good wages.
- Copyright
- MELISSA FARLOW
- Image Size
- 6485x4344 / 24.1MB
- Keywords
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american people, bulldozers, coal (mineral), coal industry and production, concepts (subject), construction equipment, destruction of woodlands, disasters, environmental damage, equipment, industrial laborers, industrial mines, industry and production, laborers, man (west virginia), man and nature (concept), minerals, national peoples, north america, peoples, rock, southern states, subject, trucks, united states, vehicles, west virginia
- Contained in galleries
- Mountaintop Removal USA_National Geographic magazine 3/2006

