Today at 3:30 pm EDT the U.S. Senate will hold an important hearing on mountaintop removal coal mining.  This is the most extreme strip mining in use and it has resulted in the destruction of some 500 mountains in Appalachia, along with the forests, wildlife and waterways that make this one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. 

Today's hearing, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, will focus exclusively on the impacts from the dumping of mountaintop mining waste into valley streams.  It should be a lively hearing, especially since the word is that the coal industry is planning to pack the hearing room with miners transported to the Capitol by bus directly from the coalfields.

You can watch live coverage of the hearing here.  And you can follow my live coverage of the proceedings below.  Feel free to join the conversation -- and we urge you to tell your senators to support legislation that will put a stop to mountaintop removal once and for all.