Blast Dislodges Overburden at Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine

around Kayford Mountain, West Virginia

Ammonium nitrate is used to blast away the “overburden” to get down to the coal seams. An average of four people die each year in the USA from “fly rock” coming from these blasts. The tree covered area on the right is private land off limits to mining, and shows the verdant landscape being destroyed.

3.5 million pounds of ammonium nitrate are used in West Virginia per day to destroy some of the most valuable forests and mountains in the USA. As a comparison, 5,000 pounds were used in the Oklahoma City bombing.