narrative_location mountaintop removal 
Pennsylvania ( Pennsylvania German : " Pennsylvaani "), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , is a state located in the northeastern and Mid - Atlantic regions of the United States . The ___MASK60___ run through its middle . The commonwealth borders Delaware to the southeast , Maryland to the south , West Virginia to the southwest , Ohio to the west , Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest , New York to the north , and New Jersey to the east . Nashville is the capital of the U . S . state of ___MASK98___ and the county seat of Davidson County . It is located on the Cumberland River in the north central part of the state . The city is a center for the music , healthcare , publishing , banking and transportation industries , and home to numerous colleges and universities . Reflecting the city ' s position in state government , Nashville is home to the ___MASK98___ Supreme Court ' s courthouse for Middle ___MASK98___ . It is known as a center of the country music industry , earning it the nickname " Music City U . S . A ." James Russell " Jim " Lauderdale ( born April 11 , 1957 ) is a multi - Grammy award winning American country , bluegrass , and Americana singer - songwriter . Since 1986 , he has released 27 studio albums , including collaborations with artists such as Dr . Ralph Stanley , Buddy Miller , and Donna the Buffalo . A " songwriter ' s songwriter ," his songs have been recorded by dozens of artists , notably George Strait , Gary Allan , Elvis Costello , Blake Shelton , the Dixie Chicks , Vince Gill , and Patty Loveless . Most recently , Lauderdale was honored Sept . 21 , 2016 , in Nashville at the Americana Honors and Awards show with the WagonMaster Lifetime Achievement Award . Appalachia is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of ___MASK61___ to northern Alabama , Mississippi and Georgia . While the ___MASK60___ stretch from Belle Isle ( Newfoundland and Labrador ) in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in Alabama , the cultural region of Appalachia typically refers only to the central and southern portions of the range . As of the 2010 United States Census , the region was home to approximately 25 million people . Mountaintop removal mining ( MTR ), also known as mountaintop mining ( MTM ), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain . Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land , or overburden , above the seams . This method of coal mining is conducted in the ___MASK60___ in the eastern United States . Explosives are used to remove up to 400 vertical feet ( 120 m ) of mountain to expose underlying coal seams . Excess rock and soil is dumped into nearby valleys , in what are called " holler fills " or " valley fills ." Less expensive to execute and requiring fewer employees , mountaintop removal mining began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques . It is primarily occurring in Kentucky , West Virginia , Virginia , and Tennessee . ___MASK35___ ( French : ) is a country in the northern half of North America . Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean , covering , making it the world ' s second - largest country by total area and the fourth - largest country by land area . ___MASK35___ ' s border with the United States is the world ' s longest land border . The majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate , but southerly areas are warm in summer . ___MASK35___ is sparsely populated , the majority of its land territory being dominated by forest and tundra and the Rocky Mountains . About four - fifths of the country ' s population of 36 million people is urbanized and live near the southern border . Its capital is Ottawa , its largest city is ___MASK37___ ; other major urban areas include Montreal , Vancouver , Calgary , Edmonton , Quebec City , Winnipeg and Hamilton . Mountaintop Removal is a 2007 documentary film directed by Michael O ' Connell . The film explores how mountaintop removal mining in ___MASK93___ has affected local communities . Filmed over a two - year period , Mountain Top Removal features community advocates , such as Ed Wiley , Larry Gibson , Julia Bonds , Maria Gunnoe , and Mountain Justice Summer volunteers , in their efforts to oppose the destruction of Southern Appalachia ' s natural landscape . The film includes commentary from Jeff Goodell , author of Big Coal : The Dirty Secret Behind America ' s Energy Future , geologists Dr . William Schlesinger and Dr . Peter Taft , and also Bill Raney , President of the ___MASK93___ Coal Association . The film won the Reel Current Award ( presented by Al Gore ) at the 2008 Nashville Film Festival . Mountaintop Removal also received a Jury award at the 2008 Wild and Scenic Film Festival , Audience award at the 2008 Woods Hole Film Festival and was screened at The Lincoln Center on ___MASK39___ Day April 22 , 2008 . The film is currently being distributed nationwide on PBS through NETA . The film ' s soundtrack includes music by Jim Lauderdale , Donna the Buffalo , John Specker and Sarah Hawker . Maria Gunnoe is an environmentalist who opposes mountaintop removal mining , and is a winner of the Goldman Prize and Wallenberg Medal . The Eastern United States , commonly referred to as the American East or simply the East , is a region roughly coinciding with the boundaries of the United States established in the 1783 Treaty of ___MASK94___ , which bounded the new country to the west along the Mississippi River . It is geographically diverse , spanning the Northeast and Southeast as well as the eastern part of the Central United States . Declan Patrick MacManus ( born 25 August 1954 ), better known by his stage name Elvis Costello , is an English musician , singer - songwriter , and record producer . He began his career as part of ___MASK58___ ' s pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British punk and new wave movement that emerged in the mid - to - late 1970s . His critically acclaimed debut album , " My Aim Is True ", was released in 1977 . Shortly after recording it , he formed the Attractions as his backing band . His second album , " This Year ' s Model ", was released in 1978 , and was ranked number 11 by " Rolling Stone " on its list of the best albums from 1967  1987 . His third album , " Armed Forces ", was released in 1979 , and features his most successful single " Oliver ' s Army ". His first three albums all appeared on " Rolling Stone ' s " list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . The Dixie Chicks are an American country music band which has also crossed over into other genres , including pop and alternative country . The band is composed of founding members ( and sisters ) Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison , and lead singer Natalie Maines . The band formed in 1989 in ___MASK77___ , ___MASK70___ , and was originally composed of four women performing bluegrass and country music , busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major label . After the departure of one bandmate , the replacement of their lead singer , and a slight change in their repertoire , Dixie Chicks soon achieved commercial success , beginning in 1998 with hit songs " There ' s Your Trouble " and " Wide Open Spaces ". The Wallenberg Medal of the University of ___MASK64___ is awarded to outstanding humanitarians whose actions on behalf of the defenseless and oppressed reflect the heroic commitment and sacrifice of Raoul Wallenberg , the Swedish diplomat who rescued tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest during the closing months of World War II . Julia " Judy " Bonds ( August 27 , 1952  January 3 , 2011 ) was an organizer and activist from the ___MASK60___ of West Virginia , United States . Raised in a family of coalminers , she worked from an early age at minimum wage jobs . Bonds was the director of Coal River Mountain Watch ( CRMW ). She has been called " the godmother of the anti - mountaintop removal movement ." ___MASK17___ (, officially the Commonwealth of ___MASK17___ ) is a state located in the Mid - Atlantic region of the United States , as well as in the historic Southeast . ___MASK17___ is nicknamed the " Old Dominion " due to its status as the first colonial possession established in mainland British America , and " Mother of Presidents " because eight U . S . presidents were born there , more than any other state . The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay , which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna . The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond ; ___MASK17___ Beach is the most populous city , and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision . The Commonwealth ' s estimated population is over 8 . 3 million , which is slightly less than ___MASK61___ City . Donna the Buffalo is a band from Trumansburg , ___MASK61___ . They play both originals ( primarily written by Jeb Puryear and Tara Nevins ) and covers . Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground . Coal is valued for its energy content , and , since the 1880s , has been widely used to generate electricity . Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production . In the ___MASK20___ and South Africa , a coal mine and its structures are a colliery . In Australia , " colliery " generally refers to an underground coal mine . In the United States " colliery " has historically been used to describe a coal mine operation , but the word today is not commonly used . The ___MASK60___ , often called the Appalachians , are a system of mountains in eastern North America . The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period . It once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before naturally occurring erosion . The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east - west travel , as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most roads running east or west . Cheaha Mountain , often called Mount Cheaha , is the highest natural point in the U . S . state of ___MASK59___ . It is located a few miles northwest of the town of Delta in scenic Cheaha State Park , which offers a lodge , a restaurant , and other amenities . Albert Arnold " Al " Gore , Jr . ( born March 31 , 1948 ) is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton . He was Clinton ' s running mate in their successful campaign in ___MASK12___ , and was re - elected in 1996 . At the end of Clinton ' s second term , Gore was picked as the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election . After leaving office , Gore remained prominent as an author and environmental activist , whose work in climate change activism earned him ( jointly with the IPCC ) the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 . Blake Tollison Shelton ( born June 18 , 1976 ) is an American singer , songwriter , and television personality . In 2001 , he made his debut with the single " ___MASK51___ ". The lead - off single from his self - titled debut album , " ___MASK51___ " spent five weeks at number one on the " Billboard " Hot Country Songs chart . The now Platinum - certified debut album also produced two more top 20 entries (" All Over Me " and " Ol ' Red "). Although the album was released on Giant Records Nashville , he was transferred to Warner Bros . Records Nashville after Giant closed in late 2001 . Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture . It was founded in ___MASK88___ in 1967 by Jann Wenner , who is still the magazine ' s publisher , and the music critic Ralph J . Gleason . It was first known for its musical coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S . Thompson . In the 1990s , the magazine shifted focus to a younger readership interested in youth - oriented television shows , film actors , and popular music . In recent years , it has resumed its traditional mix of content . ___MASK93___ is a state located in the Appalachian region of the Southern United States . It is bordered by Virginia to the southeast , Kentucky to the southwest , Ohio to the northwest , Pennsylvania to the north ( and , slightly , east ), and Maryland to the northeast . ___MASK93___ is the 41st largest by area , the 38th most populous , and has the second lowest household income of the 50 United States . The capital and largest city is Charleston . Jeff Goodell is an American author and contributing editor to " Rolling Stone " magazine . Goodell ' s writings are known for a focus on energy and environmental issues . He is a 2016 Fellow at the New America Foundation . ___MASK84___ is a state located in the Mid - Atlantic region of the United States , bordering Virginia , ___MASK93___ , and ___MASK76___ , D . C . to its south and west ; Pennsylvania to its north ; and Delaware to its east . The state ' s largest city is Baltimore , and its capital is Annapolis . Among its occasional nicknames are " Old Line State ", the " Free State ", and the " Chesapeake Bay State ". The state is named after Henrietta Maria of France , the wife of Charles I of England . The Southern Tier is the counties of ___MASK61___ west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania . It generally includes the counties that border Pennsylvania west of Delaware County , but definitions of the region vary widely . ___MASK59___ is a state in the southeastern region of the United States . It is bordered by ___MASK98___ to the north , Georgia to the east , Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south , and Mississippi to the west . ___MASK59___ is the 30th - most extensive and the 24th - most populous of the U . S . states . At nearly , ___MASK59___ has one of the nation ' s longest navigable inland waterways . William Jefferson " Bill " Clinton ( born August 19 , 1946 ) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 . Clinton was the 40th Governor of ___MASK78___ from 1979 to 1981 and 42nd Governor from 1983 to 1992 , and ___MASK78___ Attorney General from 1977 to 1979 . A member of the Democratic Party , ideologically Clinton was a New Democrat , and many of his policies reflected a centrist " Third Way " political philosophy . ___MASK53___ , officially the Commonwealth of ___MASK53___ , is a state located in the east south - central region of the United States . ___MASK53___ is one of four U . S . states constituted as a commonwealth ( the others being ___MASK17___ , Pennsylvania , and ___MASK72___ ). Originally a part of ___MASK17___ , in 1792 ___MASK53___ became the 15th state to join the Union . ___MASK53___ is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States . ___MASK39___ Day is an annual event , celebrated on April 22 , on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection . It was first celebrated in 1970 , and is now coordinated globally by the ___MASK39___ Day Network and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year . Belle Isle ( French for ' Beautiful Island ') is an uninhabited island just off the coast of Labrador and north of Newfoundland at the Atlantic entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle which takes its name . Named by French explorer Jacques Cartier , the island lies on the shortest shipping lane between the Great Lakes and ___MASK26___ , and also on the main north  south shipping route to Hudson Bay and the ___MASK34___ . The northern terminus of the International Appalachian Trail is located on Belle Isle . Steven Paul " Buddy " Miller ( born September 6 , 1952 ) is an American singer , songwriter , musician , recording artist and producer , currently living in Nashville , ___MASK98___ . Miller is married to and has recorded with singer - songwriter Julie Miller . The Nashville Film Festival ( NaFF ), held annually in Nashville , ___MASK98___ , is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States . In 2016 , Nashville Film Festival received more than 6 , 700 submissions from 125 countries and programmed 271 films . Attendance has grown to nearly 43 , 000 . The festival also offers a screenplay competition with features , teleplays and shorts categories and a web series competition . In addition to tendays of film screenings , the festival provides industry panels , music showcases , parties and receptions . The Nashville Film Festival is also an Academy Award qualifying festival . Mississippi is a state in the southern region of the United States , with part of its southern border formed by the Gulf of ___MASK41___ . Its western border is formed by the Mississippi River .