valley fill
n.— «Mountaintop removal is just what the name suggests. Peaks are cleared of trees. Giant steam shovels then scrape away the topsoil. The rock beneath is blasted away until the coal is exposed. Some blasts have lopped as much as 800 feet off a mountain, environmental attorney Lovett says. He calls the method “strip mining on steroids.” The rock and soil debris is pushed into hollows in what the industry calls “valley fills.”» —“Mining battle marked by peaks and valleys” by Laura Parker in Bob White, West Virginia USA Today Apr. 18, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...
George from Maple Grove, Minnesota, was driving through West Virginia and stopped at Grandview outside Beckley. The view of the New River Gorge was indeed so grand that he texted a picture to friends and family with the message, What a gorgeous view...