Botkin Environmental Science Earth as Living Planet 8th txtbk

15.3 Coal 319
FIGURE 15.16 Mountaintop mining in West Virginia has been
criticized as damaging to the environment as vegetation is removed,
stream channels are filled with rock and sediment, and the land is
changed forever.
the mining, following reclamation, produces flat land for
a variety of uses, such as urban development, in a region
where flat land is mostly on floodplains with fewer potential
uses.
Since the adoption of the Surface Mining Control
and Reclamation Act of 1977, the U.S. government has
required that mined land be restored to support its premining
use. The regulations also prohibit mining on
prime agricultural land and give farmers and ranchers the
opportunity to restrict or prohibit mining on their land,
even if they do not own the mineral rights. Reclamation
includes disposing of wastes, contouring the land, and replanting
vegetation.
Reclamation is often difficult and unlikely to be completely
successful. In fact, some environmentalists argue
that reclamation success stories are the exception and that
strip mining should not be allowed in the semiarid southwestern
states because reclamation is uncertain in that
fragile environment.
Underground Mining
Underground mining accounts for approximately 40%
of the coal mined in the United States and poses special
risks both for miners and for the environment. The dangers
to miners have been well documented over the years
in news stories, books, and films. Hazards include mine
shaft collapses (cave-ins), explosions, fires, and respiratory
illnesses, especially the well-known black lung disease,
which is related to exposure to coal dust, which has killed
or disabled many miners over the years.
Some of the environmental problems associated with
underground mining include the following:
Acid mine drainage and waste piles have
polluted thousands of kilometers of streams
(see Chapter 19).
Land subsidence can occur over mines.
Vertical subsidence occurs when the ground
above coal mine tunnels collapses, often leaving
a crater-shaped pit at the surface (Figure
15.17). Coal-mining areas in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia, for example, are well
known for serious subsidence problems. In
recent years, a parking lot and crane collapsed
into a hole over a coal mine in Scranton,
Pennsylvania; and damage from subsidence
caused condemnation of many buildings in
Fairmont, West Virginia.
Coal fires in underground mines, either
naturally caused or deliberately set, may belch smoke
and hazardous fumes, causing people in the vicinity to
suffer from a variety of respiratory diseases. For example,
in Centralia, Pennsylvania, a trash fire set in 1961 lit
nearby underground coal seams on fire. They are still
burning today and have turned Centralia into a ghost
town.
Transporting Coal
Transporting coal from mining areas to large population
centers where energy is needed is a significant environmental
issue. Although coal can be converted at the
FIGURE 15.17 Subsidence below coal mines in the Appalachian
coal belt.