Mountaintop removal mining -- blasting off the tops of mountains in order to remove the coal underneath, and then dumping the mountaintops into the valleys and waterways below -- has been called "[o]ne of the greatest environmental and human rights catastrophes in American history." As the public has become aware of the ecological devastation happening in the ancient Appalachian mountains, the mining companies have wised up and applied the art of PR spin. Now, as the practice of mountaintop removal mining has begun to creep into Tennessee, the mining companies are using the less self-explanatory term "cross-ridge mining." The idea now is to destroy the mountain, remove the coal, and then try to put the debris back in a parody of the mountain it once was. Just how safe will these mountainous piles of debris be? For more information, check out Save Our Cumberland Mountains.