Mountaintop Mining/Valley Fills in Appalachia

Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia

Mrs. JacksonPeriod 2

It starts with coal mining

Mountaintop removal is

a radical form of coal mining where entire mountains are literally blown up devastating communities throughout Appalachia, polluting drinking water and destroying rivers.

Everyone who is on the electric grid is connected to mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains.

Using Coal

Mountaintop coal mining is a surface mining practice used in the Appalachian states involving the removal of mountaintops to expose coal seams and disposing of the associated mining overburden in adjacent valleys.

The overburden is disposed in “valley fills.” Valley fills occur in steep terrain where there are limited disposal alternatives.

The valley fill disposal method has resulted in substantial loss of headwater streams and habitat.

Mountaintop Mining Impacts on Streams

Background

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.

Mining operations are regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA). It is government approved. discharges pollutants to streams from valley fills the valley fill itself where the rock and dirt is placed in

streams and wetlands Coal mining operations also regulated under the Surface

Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA).

Mining Sequence

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

In 2010 voters across Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Virginia solidly oppose mountaintop removal coal mining by wide margins..

•Three-quarters support increasing protections in the Clean Water Act to safeguard streams, rivers, and lakes in their states from mountaintop removal coal mining. •76% voters in these four states support this proposal •62% majority who feel that way strongly•8% of voters oppose it

Do people care about this?

When voters were provided with a brief description

“coal companies in [STATE] mine coal from mountains through a process called mountaintop removal mining where the top of a mountain is removed to extract the coal and waste is disposed in nearby valleys and streams”

•57% oppose mountaintop removal •42% strongly oppose •20% who support it

What do people want

Favorability

61

42

49

47

48

26

20

21

50

20

26

24

41

39

28

24

20

20

18

11

10

10

10

26

25

36

10

7Coal Mining

Barack Obama

Non-Profit Environmental Organizations

Coal Companies

Mining Companies

Strip Mining

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Is it all mining people are opposed to?

The Appalachian region is home to one of the oldest and most

biologically diverse mountain systems on the continent.

Mountaintop removal mining has already destroyed more than 500

mountains.

After the coal companies blast apart the mountaintops, they dump the

rubble into neighboring valleys, where lie the headwaters of streams

and rivers, like the Kanawha, Clinch, and Big Sandy.

The exposed rock leaches heavy metals and other toxics that pose

enormous health threats to the region’s plants and animals and people.

What are the detriments?

Mountaintop removal has•buried more than 2,000 miles of vital Appalachian headwater streams, and poisoning many more.

Mountaintop removal has• destroyed 1.4 million acres of Appalachian forest.

How bad is it?

After the topsoil and upper portions of a mountain’s rock have been removed, the remaining soil is incapable of producing native hardwood forest.

The conservancy warns that Cerulean warblers are in particular danger, as their populations have decreased by almost 70 percent since 1966.

A 2014 study released by the U.S. Geological Survey indicates

•fish populations downstream of mountaintop removal mining operations were reduced by two-thirds between 1999 and 2011•loss of suitable habitat due to valley fills and mining pollution •high selenium concentrations contribute to the increasing scarcity

Environment- people, land, animals, birds

Developmental Abnormalities

Dangerously high levels of conductivity and selenium have been discovered in correlation among West Virginia fish located downstream of mountaintop removal sites.

The evidence of deformity:

fish with curved spines or

trout with two heads. Next- people.

•In 2009, Doug Wood, a biologist for West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection, expressed concern over evidence that an entire order of mayfly had vanished from streams below valley fills.

•Such a loss is “equivalent to the loss of all primates (including humans) from a given area.”

•This means the entire food chain is at risk.

It starts small…

Mountaintop Mining Impacts on Streams

Approximately 1200 miles of headwater streams were directly impacted between 1992 and 2002. An estimated 724 stream miles were covered by valley fills from 1985 to 2001.

Eliminating or contaminating streams affects the area the water flows into as well.

Environment is irreparably changed.

Won’t grow into forest again.

Streams in watersheds below valley fills tend to have greater base are contaminated or destroyed.

Mining via erosion and sediment control structures are destroying the wetlands

In a study conducted October 17, 2014, chemicals are causing a rising rate of cancer- those who live in mountain top removal areas now have a cancer rate of 14. 4 %

Value of Headwater Streams

Forest Fragmentation

Selenium Bioaccumulation Potential

Social/Economic and Heritage issues

Cumulative Impacts – Health and environmental costs

EPA Concerns

Mountaintop removal coal mining is often described as "strip mining on steroids."

Society values… the quick buck.We need to keep our fast-paced, self-driven lifestyles going without compromise

But really, does it affect me?

We are connected to mountaintop removal.

Electricity provider CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (owned by AES Corp) , buys coal from companies engaged in mountaintop removal.

If you use electricity then you are contributing to this problem.

Theme Connection

Mountaintop removal

To earn quick money companies are destroying the land, the environment, habitats and the people of Appalachia for quick money ignoring the repercussions.

Frankenstein Victor, like the coal

miners, is blind to the impact of his choices on those around him. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted. Everyone else paid the consequences.

It starts here.

Do you stand up for what is right?

If we don’t stop the government and mining companies this power abuse will continue. It is mining in Appalachia today, it may be something else in your neighborhood tomorrow. Who will stand and help fight for you?