There were two big developments this week in the fight to end mountaintop removal, with a federal appeals court upholding the EPA's authority to revoke permits for such coal mining operations, and a group of scientists calling for a moratorium on the practice. Is the end of blowing up Appalachia near?
Image:
![](http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/images/mtr_blast_bo_webb.jpg?1366827508)
(Photo of mountaintop removal blasting in West Virginia by Bo Webb.)
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