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Surface Mining Opponents Rally at Kentucky Capitol

Hundreds of citizen activists, Appalachian residents and environmentalists rallied at the Kentucky Capitol to call for an end to mountaintop blasting and destructive surface mining practices.  Organizers say more than 1,200 people lined the front steps of the Capitol building Tuesday and later marched to the nearby governor's mansion. The "I Love Mountains Day" rally has become an annual event with help from environmental groups.  Speakers called on Kentucky lawmakers to put an end to a surface mining practice known as mountaintop removal or MTR, which uses blasting to scrape away layers of vegetation and earth to reach coal seams. They urged the House to pass a bill aimed at protecting waterways affected by surface mining.

Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
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