Mountain Top Removal Webquest
Mountaintop Removal 101
1: What is mountaintop removal? any method of surface coal mining that removes a mountaintop or ridgeline, whether or not the mined area will be returned to its approximate original contour.
2: How does each of the following affect the environment:
• Clearing:Before mining can begin, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed. Because coal companies frequently are responding to short-term fluctuations in the price of coal, these trees are often not used commercially, but instead are burned or sometimes illegally dumped into valley fills.
effect: This effects the environmnet because vegetation is removed which is food for animals and their habitatas are destroyed.
• Blasting:Many Appalachian coal seams lie deep below the surface of the mountains. Accessing these seams through surface mining can require the removal of 600 feet or more of elevation. Blowing up this much mountain is accomplished by using millions of pounds of explosives. Every week, the explosive equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb is detonated in Appalachia.
effect: this effect the surounding soils and destorys habitats
• Digging: Coal and debris are removed using enormous earth-moving machines known as draglines, which stand 22 stories high and can hold 24 compact cars their buckets. These machines can cost up to $100 million, but are favored by coal companies because they displace the need for hundreds of jobs.
effect: first its a waste of money, second ithas the same effect
• Dumping Waste: The debris, called “overburden” or “spoil,” is dumped into nearby valleys. These “valley fills” have buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of headwater streams. In 2002, the Bush Administration changed the definition of “fill material” in the Clean Water Act to include toxic mining waste, which allowed coal companies to legally create valley fills.
effect: pollution
Processing:
Coal must be washed and treated before it is shipped to power plants for burning. This processing creates coal slurry or sludge, a mix of water, coal dust and clay containing toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, lead and chromium. The coal sludge is often contained in open impoundments, sometimes built with mining debris, making them very unstable.effect: a lot of water is used for the process that can be used for something more useful, create pollution,
• Reclaimation3: While reclamation efforts are required by federal law, coal companies often receive waivers from state agencies with the idea that economic development will occur on the land. In reality, most sites receive little more than a spraying of exotic grass seed, and less than three percent of reclaimed mountaintop removal sites are used for economic development. According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency impact statement on mountaintop removal in Appalachia, it may take hundred of years for a forest to re-establish itself on the mine site.
effect: the habitats destroyed
3: Where is mountaintop removal happening?
-eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and East Tennessee.
4: What can be done to stop mountaintop removal?
-long-term legislative fix
5: What agencies are involved in regulating mountaintop removal?
-Clean Water Act
-resident’s Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, which includes the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
6: What is one reason why we don’t need to use this type of process?
-because we dont use it much for our electricity
Economic Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
7: Summarize the economic impacts of mountaintop removal
Ecological and economics Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
-In summary i think that the process is very useless since we don't use it very often. The process only hurts the environment and the surroundings. It causes severe pollution and plus which can stay for a long time. Agencies have been helping to keep this regulated but many other countries depend on it. It has also not provided many jobs anymore its more technological. Many animals such as indicator species die off.
8: How does mountaintop removal affect the local community?
-Well mountaintop removal affects the local community because many pollutants are left in the air hich can travel and stay in the air for a long time.
1: What is mountaintop removal? any method of surface coal mining that removes a mountaintop or ridgeline, whether or not the mined area will be returned to its approximate original contour.
2: How does each of the following affect the environment:
• Clearing:Before mining can begin, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed. Because coal companies frequently are responding to short-term fluctuations in the price of coal, these trees are often not used commercially, but instead are burned or sometimes illegally dumped into valley fills.
effect: This effects the environmnet because vegetation is removed which is food for animals and their habitatas are destroyed.
• Blasting:Many Appalachian coal seams lie deep below the surface of the mountains. Accessing these seams through surface mining can require the removal of 600 feet or more of elevation. Blowing up this much mountain is accomplished by using millions of pounds of explosives. Every week, the explosive equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb is detonated in Appalachia.
effect: this effect the surounding soils and destorys habitats
• Digging: Coal and debris are removed using enormous earth-moving machines known as draglines, which stand 22 stories high and can hold 24 compact cars their buckets. These machines can cost up to $100 million, but are favored by coal companies because they displace the need for hundreds of jobs.
effect: first its a waste of money, second ithas the same effect
• Dumping Waste: The debris, called “overburden” or “spoil,” is dumped into nearby valleys. These “valley fills” have buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of headwater streams. In 2002, the Bush Administration changed the definition of “fill material” in the Clean Water Act to include toxic mining waste, which allowed coal companies to legally create valley fills.
effect: pollution
Processing:
Coal must be washed and treated before it is shipped to power plants for burning. This processing creates coal slurry or sludge, a mix of water, coal dust and clay containing toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury, lead and chromium. The coal sludge is often contained in open impoundments, sometimes built with mining debris, making them very unstable.effect: a lot of water is used for the process that can be used for something more useful, create pollution,
• Reclaimation3: While reclamation efforts are required by federal law, coal companies often receive waivers from state agencies with the idea that economic development will occur on the land. In reality, most sites receive little more than a spraying of exotic grass seed, and less than three percent of reclaimed mountaintop removal sites are used for economic development. According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency impact statement on mountaintop removal in Appalachia, it may take hundred of years for a forest to re-establish itself on the mine site.
effect: the habitats destroyed
3: Where is mountaintop removal happening?
-eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and East Tennessee.
4: What can be done to stop mountaintop removal?
-long-term legislative fix
5: What agencies are involved in regulating mountaintop removal?
-Clean Water Act
-resident’s Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, which includes the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
6: What is one reason why we don’t need to use this type of process?
-because we dont use it much for our electricity
Economic Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
7: Summarize the economic impacts of mountaintop removal
Ecological and economics Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
-In summary i think that the process is very useless since we don't use it very often. The process only hurts the environment and the surroundings. It causes severe pollution and plus which can stay for a long time. Agencies have been helping to keep this regulated but many other countries depend on it. It has also not provided many jobs anymore its more technological. Many animals such as indicator species die off.
8: How does mountaintop removal affect the local community?
-Well mountaintop removal affects the local community because many pollutants are left in the air hich can travel and stay in the air for a long time.