mountaintop removal coal mining

S

swatiraohnlu

Swati Rao
Mountain top removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining that involves the mining of the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Entire coal seams are removed from the top of a mountain, hill or ridge by removing the so-called overburden (soil lying above the economically desired resource).
After the coal is extracted, the removed material is put back onto the ridge to approximate the mountain's original contours. Any overburden the mining company considers excess (that which it's not able to place back onto the ridge top) is moved into neighboring valleys.Peer-reviewed studies show that mountaintop mining has serious environmental impacts, including loss of biodiversity. But, the industry claims that it can "reclaim" and reforest areas subject to MTR.
Ban on mountaintop removal coal mining?
 
* Mountaintop removal involves permanent deforestation The forest on a mountaintop is removed permanently in mountaintop removal coal mine. It cannot recover. This differs significantly from closed mines where a forest above can thrive.

* Mined mountaintops are hardly ever reclaimed/reforested Mountain Justice: "Coal companies are supposed to reclaim land, but all too often mine sites are left stripped and bare. Even where attempts to replant vegetation have been made, the mountain is never again returned to its healthy state."

* Trees have difficulty gaining root in compacted backfill. Mountaintop removal takes off the ordinary topsoil upon which trees can gain root. What remains is a compacted rocky surface that is not usually suitable for reforestation within any reasonable period of time.

* Mountaintop removal often leaves no ecosystem b/w mines

* Trees cut for mountaintop mining are often not used. I love mountains.org: "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 even used comercially in the rush to get the coal, but instead are burned or sometimes illegally dumped into valley fills."
 
* Mountaintop removal threatens many endangered species. Extensive tracts of deciduous forests destroyed by mountaintop mining support several endangered species and some of the highest biodiversity in North America.

* Transport trucks in mountaintop removal damage environment. The huge trucks being driven in and out of coal mine sites are loud, disruptive, and polluting of the environment.

* Burning coal emits carbon dioxide and harms climate. Burning CO2 emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other energy source. It is, therefore, a major contributor to climate change.
 
A dragline digs into the rock to expose the coal. These machines can weigh up to 8 million pounds with a base as big as a gymnasium and as tall as a 20-story building. These machines allow coal companies to hire fewer workers. A small crew can tear apart a mountain in less than a year, working night and day. Coal companies make big profits at the expense of us all.
 
"The average internet user (12 hours per week) uses over 300 pounds of coal annually for this purpose."When listening to Dan Miller speak on behalf of Friends of Coal, I found his statistics rather boring until
flipping through the booklet he handed out listing quick facts on coal, I found this fact. Previously unknown to me, this fact was shocking because as a person on the outside of the battle between friends of coal and environmental activists, I was taking such a large role in the consumption of coal. I am on the internet many more than twelve hours a week; I am consuming more than 300 pounds of coal annually from a state that provides 50% of all American coal exports.
 
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