Surface mining is the practice of the removing the soil and rock over a mineral deposit, such as coal. Rather than digging an underground shaft, the mineral is removed from the top, so there is no chance of collapse of a shaft. The three types of surface mining are strip mining, open-pit mining, and mountain top removal.
Some say there are advantages to surface mining. The obvious advantage is that it should be safer for mine workers than being in shafts where they can be trapped. There is also a lower cost of recover (since trucks can enter the mine), but there are also many disadvantages.
There have been deaths due to surface mining. In 2004, a three year old boy was crushed to death when a boulder was pushed off an area that A&G Coal was surfacing. The boulder rolled almost 650 feet down the mountain and into the boy’s home. Flooding is another problem caused by surface mining. Once the vegetation and trees are removed from the mountain, there is nothing to stop the rainfall. Flooding due to surface mining killed eight people in West Virginia in 2001 and 2002.
Even those that don’t get killed by surface mining may have to deal with contaminated surroundings. Mountain top removal creates something called slurry or coal sludge. This slurry is stored in an impoundment, but the impoundments are often huge, unsightly areas. One was even built 400 yards from an elementary school! Toxic material left over from the mining can drain from the surface mining area to pollute the water. Blasting can also contaminate water by loosen the foundation of the area, causing leakage, which results in indirect degradation of ground water. Surface mining may cause health problems due to the gases and dust released into the air.
But, the worst thing about surface mining may be the devastation left behind. Surface mining damages the environment and renders the area almost unrecognizable. While there are state and federal reclamation laws, many people are still not happy with the damage left behind. The entire landscape is changed due to the blasting and wildlife must often relocate. Jeff Biggers wrote The United States of Appalachia in 2006. The book chronicles how the mountaintop removal is destroying the area’s history and the culture of the Appalachian people.
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