Another national magazine has published an expose about the mountaintop removal controversy in West Virginia.

In its July/August issue, Mother Jones calls the mining method "Razing Appalachia" and says, "Big coal is leveling the mountains themselves - and tearing communities apart."

The 10-page spread features color photographs of mountaintop removal sites and interviews with coalfield residents who live nearby.

"Machines do almost all the work in these modern mines; the coal miners and their communities are now an inconvenience," freelance reporter Maryanne Vollers wrote in the article.

Vollers interviewed Arch Coal Inc. Vice President David Todd, who argued that the layoff of nearly 400 miners at his company's Dal-Tex Mine because of a judge's injunction "is unconscionable."

"In the past year, 900 union miners have been laid off in West Virginia due to reduced domestic demand (after a pair of mild winters) and a general consolidation in the coal industry," the article said.

"Nobody marched on Charleston when those cuts were made, and no corporate vice presidents expressed their anger and frustration."

The Mother Jones article will be available on newsstands starting Tuesday and on the Internet next week at www.motherjones.com.

In its July/August issue, Mother Jones calls the mining method "Razing Appalachia" and says, "Big coal is leveling the mountains themselves - and tearing communities apart."

The 10-page spread features color photographs of mountaintop removal sites and interviews with coalfield residents who live nearby.

"Machines do almost all the work in these modern mines; the coal miners and their communities are now an inconvenience," freelance reporter Maryanne Vollers wrote in the article.

Vollers interviewed Arch Coal Inc. Vice President David Todd, who argued that the layoff of nearly 400 miners at his company's Dal-Tex Mine because of a judge's injunction "is unconscionable."

"In the past year, 900 union miners have been laid off in West Virginia due to reduced domestic demand (after a pair of mild winters) and a general consolidation in the coal industry," the article said.

"Nobody marched on Charleston when those cuts were made, and no corporate vice presidents expressed their anger and frustration."

The Mother Jones article will be available on newsstands starting Tuesday and on the Internet next week at www.motherjones.com.