Larry Gibson's ancestors are about to have their remains desecrated. For sixteen years Gibson has been fighting mountaintop removal, a coal mining method in which explosives blast off wedge after wedge until a mountain is trimmed by as much 600 feet (200 meters). The tiny cemetery already has had land on three sides removed. "You can see where the graveyard is beginning to crumble and fall off into the rubble," said Gibson.

The blasts can throw rocks, usually small, but sometimes as large as cars, outside the blast areas. Twenty-story high scoops called draglines then swallow rubble waste, move it several football field lengths in one swoop, and toss it into valleys. Enormous trucks carry coal down to washing areas. From there, 18-wheelers carry coal on twisting two-lane valley roads to barges on rivers throughout Appalachia.

Of the large coal companies operating in Appalachia, only Peabody Coal abstains from this method of mining. The two other big companies, Massey Energy and Arch Coal, both participate in this destructive method. Land is blasted away, regardless of nearby cemeteries or other "impediments."

Many residents in West Virginia and Kentucky want the mining done using conventional underground methods. From volunteer pilot organizations that give flyovers of the sites, like South Wings, to valley organizations such as Coal River Watch in Boone County, activists argue that mountaintop removal is dangerous. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is compiling an eight-hundred-page report on mountain mining, but its publication has been delayed.

Meanwhile, Massey Energy has secured permits to mine the fourth side around Larry Gibson's property. "We're going to be an island," said Gibson.

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