My Hometown is 'Mining for Land'

The towering mountains that frame this Appalachian town have been a hindrance to growth, forcing homes and businesses to crowd together side by side on precious little flat land.
That could change under a plan by Pikeville leaders who recruited a coal company to flatten two mountaintops to make room for the town of about 6,300 to expand.

Appalachian towns like Pikeville that have exhausted all useable land have no choice but to look to the mountaintops.

In mountaintop-removal coal mining, hilltops are blasted away to uncover coal seams, and the leftover rock and dirt are dumped into adjacent valleys, burying streams. Environmentalists say the process destroys wildlife habitat and contaminates water.

Pikeville wouldn't be the first Kentucky town to look to mined land for expansion. Cities throughout the mountain region have used the reclaimed properties for everything from industrial parks to airports.

In nearby Hazard, housing developments, car lots and even a hospital have sprouted up on such property. The Federal Bureau of Prisons built a high-security penitentiary on a former mountaintop removal site outside Inez. And Prestonsburg has a golf course on mined land.

Ordinarily, coal companies are required under federal law to restore mountains to the original contour. But an exception in the law allows mining companies to leave the land flat when that better serves post-mining purposes.

The deal would create about 800 acres of flat land suitable for various types of development. Mining has already begun on that project, which will net the airport as much as $4 million in royalties.

Undeveloped flat land is rare in many Appalachian towns. Less than 17% of Pikeville's land is flat and can be developed.