Oct. 14--BIG STONE GAP, Va. -- As public hearings begin on the future of mountaintop mining, both sides are preparing for battle.

Environmentalists say current surface mining practices are destroying the region's air, water and economic development potential, while coal industry advocates point to tens of thousands of job losses that could occur if the government stops allowing valley fills -- or the dumping of mountaintop mine waste into the valleys.

Both are mobilizing supporters to speak at public hearings in six Appalachian coal-mining states hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has proposed halting the issuance of the controversial Nationwide 21 permits that allow mining waste to be dumped in streams.

Mountain Empire Community College will be the site of a hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday that is expected to draw a crowd to Big Stone Gap.

"There never should've been a one-size-fits-all permit for mining as destructive as mountaintop removal has been," said Oliver Bernstein, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, which released a report Tuesday on benefits that would come from ending current mining practices.

Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, said ending surface mining here would have little effect on electricity prices or mining jobs.

Coal companies say both would be drastically affected.

"We think if you talk about the U.S. surface production in the East, and this could certainly be deemed to extend to all of that, you're probably talking about 80,000 jobs," said Ted Pile, spokesman for Abingdon, Va.-based Alpha Natural Resources. "Those are just direct jobs ... so there's a lot of indirect jobs that could be affected by this as well."

Bill Bledsoe, executive director of the Virginia Mining Association, said elimination of the Nationwide 21 permits would greatly increase the time and cost involved in getting a coal surface mining permit.

And even those individual permits are now in question as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has frozen 79 such permits for further review.

"It does appear that the coal industry, and particularly in the Appalachian region, is under attack as a result of a strong and organized environmental movement," Bledsoe said. "It does appear that the Obama administration is using all tactics available to eliminate mountaintop mining in the Appalachian region."

Opponents of mountaintop mining say that's what they'd like to see.

"We consider it a step in the process along the way," said Kathy Selvage, vice president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, which is based in Big Stone Gap. "Yes, I will be happy if they return to individual permit applications, but ultimately we would like to see it end the destruction of the mountains."

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