Mountaintop mining waste contains chemical compounds that otherwise remain sealed up in coal and rock. Rainwater falling on a valley fill becomes enriched with heavy metals such as lead, aluminum, chromium, manganese and selenium.
What mineral is extracted in mountaintop removal mining?
coal mining
Michael Hendryx: Mountaintop removal is a form of surface coal mining. As the name suggests, it literally removes up to 800 feet off the tops of mountains to try to reach coal seams that are not accessible by other mining techniques because the terrain is too steep or the veins are too thin.
What is mined in mountaintop mining?
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining that involves the topographical alteration and/or removal of a summit, hill, or ridge to access buried coal seams. Further studies calculated that 12m2 of mined land produced one metric ton of coal.
What kind of mining occurs in Kentucky?
Drift, contour, mountaintop- removal, and augur mining are more common in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, and area, slope, and shaft mining are more common in the Western Kentucky Coal Field.
Where does mountaintop removal mining occur?
Mountaintop removal takes place primarily in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.
How does mountaintop mining work?
“Mountaintop removal/valley fill is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal. Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.”
Does mining destroy mountains?
Tragically, mountaintop removal mining has already destroyed more than 500 mountains encompassing more than 1 million acres of Central and Southern Appalachia. …
Why is mountaintop mining bad?
The impacts on communities of blowing up mountains and dumping the rubble into streams are profound. It forces residents to contend with contaminated drinking water, increased flooding, dangerous coal slurry impoundments, and higher rates of cancer and other health issues.
What resources are found in Kentucky?
The production of minerals and fuels in Kentucky is a multibillion dollar industry. Historically, coal, oil, natural gas, limestone, sand and gravel, clay, fluorite, barite, lead, iron, phosphate, zinc, and brines have been produced in the state.
Where are Kentucky coal mines?
1971 Kentucky becomes the leading coal producer in the United States, with surface mines in Muhlenberg County leading the state. Surface production becomes Kentucky’s primary means of coal production, led by large surface mines in Muhlenberg County in Western Kentucky.
How does mountaintop mining affect the environment?
Contaminants from mountaintop removal even poison the drinking water of downstream communities. And this form of mining makes a twofold contribution to climate change: The forests destroyed in the process no longer store carbon, and the burning of the coal that’s mined releases carbon into the atmosphere.
Where does mountaintop mining occur?
Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.
