Once, mining for minerals involved digging into the earth, accessing mineral veins at their source. Today’s mining methods are much more invasive. In many places, mining companies use strip mining and a controversial practice called mountaintop removal to access coal and other natural resources. In most cases, these mining practices are occurring hundreds or thousands of miles from beaches and oceans. Still, they are causing a negative impact that might one day affect all of us.
Strip Mining
Defined as the practice of mining a mineral seam, particularly coal or tar sand, by first removing a long strip of “overburden” or overlying rock and soil, this type of mining is used when the resource to be removed is situated close to the earth’s surface. Massive excavation machines are used, including some which are capable of moving up to 12,000 cubic meters of earth every hour.
There are two main methods of strip mining. The first, and most common, is area stripping, which is used to extract mineral deposits over a large area with fairly flat terrain. Soil from one strip is placed into the previous strip’s excavation area. The second method is called contour stripping. This involves removing soil and stones from areas above mineral seams that follow the contour of land on hilly terrain. Often, augers are used to dig deep into the earth to access deposits that are further inside the hill. If you have ever seen a mountainside that has a terraced appearance, then you may be looking at the results of contour stripping.
Mountaintop Removal
If you have never heard of mountaintop removal mining, or MTR, you are not alone. This is one mining method that companies use frequently in remote areas, and though development attempts on reclaimed MTR mine sites do happen, they don’t bring back the mountaintops. Electric companies don’t want to publicize the fact that much of the coal they use to produce energy may have come from a mountaintop removal site. Keeping consumers in the dark about this practice has prevented public uproar, but as related problems are intensifying, so is consumer outrage.
In mountaintop removal mining, which is used exclusively for coal mining, corporations bulldoze the tops of mountains, clearing the way for dynamite placement. Once upper soil layers have been blown away with explosives, bedrock and coal are exposed, making access easier and less expensive. The resulting “excess mining waste” is then dumped off hillsides down into smaller hollows below, creating areas known as “valley fills” and “holler fills”, effectively blocking streams and killing plants and animals. The demand for coal has increased so much that this quick mining method has been adopted to reach coal seams as deep as 400 feet beneath the surface in the Appalachian coal fields of Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
Once mining operations have concluded, reclamation is possible; prisons, housing complexes, shopping centers, and other commercial operations have been successfully erected at a few sites. At most sites, though, all that is left is a massive scar on the earth, denuded of topsoil and left to erode over time.
The Consequences
All mining operations, even the least invasive, have an effect on the environment. With more invasive methods, both the local environment and the world environment are affected in a variety of ways. Of the two methods we have described, strip mining is the lesser of two evils. Although enormous amounts of earth are moved, it takes much less time for trees, plants, and animals to return. Erosion is normally much easier to control since affected areas are often significantly smaller than those affected by mountaintop removal.
Advocates of MTR, mainly the corporations that profit from the method, are quick to point out that flat land is at a premium in some areas of Appalachia; they point to instances where successful reforestation has taken place, providing habitat for wildlife and pastureland for farmers. In addition, they tell us that we “need” coal to fuel our craving for electricity.
Critics point not only to the loss of habitat, but to the devastating effects erosion from MTR methods has on local streams. Fish die offs happen and increased erosion leads to pollution that eventually makes its way to the ocean. Currently, the Chesapeake Bay is at risk of increased nonpoint source pollution directly linked to the runoff that comes from MTR sites and from runoff originating at various agricultural sites. Building massive factory farm sites atop old mountaintop removal sites will only serve to increase the problem.
In a US Environmental Protection Agency environmental impact statement titled The Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Central Appalachian Coalfields, the EPA states that the practice of mountaintop removal and valley fill lead directly to alter ecosystems, elevating concentrations of major chemical ions downstream, degrading water quality to the point that it is acutely lethal to laboratory test organisms, and elevating selenium concentrations to the point of toxicity to fish and birds. EPA goes on to state that “macroinvertebrate and fish communities are significantly degraded” due to the practice.
People are affected, too. Families that once mined the traditional way have found themselves out of jobs, since MTR operations can be carried out with fewer employees. Worse, public health is affected. Dust settles everywhere, and it’s not ordinary dust; it tends to contain hazardous sulfur compounds. In testimony to a congressional committee, the EPA stated that an independent peer-reviewed study found that people living in communities near degraded streams suffer higher rates of several forms of cancer, and birth defects are on the rise as well.
Better Alternatives and How You Can Help
In order to put an end to harmful mining practices, people need to know what is happening. One of the most important ways you can help is by spreading the word and becoming active in your community. Another is to educate yourself. Good questions to ask include:
- Where does my electricity come from?
- What kind of fuel is used to generate the electricity that I use?
- Does the energy company I rely on for electricity have plans to use green production methods in the future? When will that take place? If no change is planned, why is that so?
- Is there a way I can generate at least some green energy on my own?
Political activism is something everyone can take part in; it doesn’t have to be extreme, and it doesn’t have to take hours of your time each week. Simply contacting your elected officials and letting them know where you stand can be beneficial.
Unless you have an unlimited source for green energy, one of the best ways you can help to reduce pollution caused by harmful mining practices is to simply cut way back on the amount of electricity you use, and try to get friends and family to do the same. Not only will you save money, you’ll help save the planet and its oceans.