STATE SEN. PATSY Ticer, Democrat, may be from Northern Virginia, but she has a grasp on the problems caused when coal companies dump waste from mining operations into valleys, burying streams. She's introduced a bill to forbid that practice, and it's getting a lot of support, according to legislative aide Martha Kent. But opposition from Big Coal will surely show up at a public hearing today in Richmond.

In recent years, coal companies have turned to mountaintop removal to harvest the sedimentary rock from the Appalachians. Armed with tons of dynamite and herds of heavy equipment, the companies denude mountaintops of trees, blast off 500 to 800 feet of elevation to expose multiple coal veins, and then dig out the valuable fossil fuel. The waste from the blasting--rubble-ized rock from the venerable Appalachians--is dumped in adjoining valleys.

Experts estimate that more than 1,900 miles of streams in Appalachia have been buried or degraded by this practice, impacting water ecosystems from head to tail. A federal study cataloged the results: Increased flooding, increased water treatment costs, loss of recreational use, increased sedimentation and erosion, altered stream chemistry and temperature, and loss of nutrient sources essential for downstream water quality and aquatic life. "These headwater streams provide essential goods and service," noted a group of 85 aquatic scientists in a 2003 report. "Rivers are networks, and their downstream navigable portions are inextricably linked to small headwaters just as fine roots are an essential part of the root structure of a tree or our own circulatory system is dependent on the function of healthy capillaries. The small ephemeral stream is not isolated from the mighty river."

The chairman of the Wise County Board of Supervisors, J.H. Rivers, says Ms. Ticer's bill would destroy the region's economy. But there are plenty of supporters from that area, too, people who see mountaintop removal as an offense against God and nature, who've had their wells dry up or become polluted, who can no longer hunt and fish in the devastated areas, and who are unemployed because coal companies have discovered that dynamite is cheaper than miners.

Ms. Ticer's bill, which comes up for committee vote on Monday, helps balance the tricky triangle of environment, energy, and industry concerns. It deserves support.