Mountaintop removal doesn’t just destroy our environment—it completely subverts the democratic process. In their efforts to mine mountains for coal, large corporations deceive local communities, flagrantly break the law, silence journalists and buy out local governments.  

In this conversation with The Nation and On the Earth Productions recorded at Chicago’s Orrington Hotel, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. explains how corporations have illegally destroyed more than five hundred mountains and impoverished countless rural communities—and gotten away with it. Kennedy has long been active in the environmental justice movement, and his latest efforts to stop mountaintop removal mining are featured in the new documentary, The Last Mountain. 

This is the first part in a three part series. Parts II and III can be viewed here and here.

—Kevin Donohoe