Environmental Impacts of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Stream Ecosystems in Central Appalachia

Environmental Impacts of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Stream Ecosystems in Central Appalachia PDF

Author: Julian M. Wagner

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 9781629480978

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book assesses the state of the science on the environmental impacts of mountaintop mines and valley fills (MTM-VF) on streams in the Central Appalachian Coalfields. These coalfields cover about 48,000 square kilometers (12 million acres) in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee, USA. This book focuses on the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining, which, as its name suggests, involves removing all--or some portion--of the top of a mountain or ridge to expose and mine one or more coal seams. The excess overburden is disposed of in constructed fills in small valleys or hollows adjacent to the mining site. Conclusions are drawn, based on evidence from peer-reviewed literature, and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement released in 2005, and that MTM-VF lead directly to five principal alterations of stream ecosystems: (1) springs, and ephemeral, intermittent, and small perennial streams are permanently lost with the removal of the mountain and from burial under fill, (2) concentrations of major chemical ions are persistently elevated downstream, (3) degraded water quality reaches levels that are acutely lethal to standard laboratory test organisms, (4) selenium concentrations are elevated, reaching concentrations that have caused toxic effects in fish and birds and (5) macroinvertebrate and fish communities are consistently degraded.

Environmental Impacts of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Stream Ecosystems in Central Appalachia

Environmental Impacts of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Stream Ecosystems in Central Appalachia PDF

Author: Julian M. Wagner

Publisher:

Published: 2014-01-14

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781629480961

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This work assesses the state of the science on the environmental impacts of mountaintop mines and valley fills on streams in the Central Appalachian coalfields. These coalfields cover about 48,000 square kilometres (12 million acres) in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.

The Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Central Appalachian Coalfields

The Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Central Appalachian Coalfields PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This report assesses the state of the science on the environmental impacts of mountaintop mines and valley fills (MTM-VD) on streams in the Central Appalachian Coalfields. These coalfields cover about 48,000 square kilometers (12 million acres) in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, USA. Our review focused on the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining, which, as its name suggests, involves removing all or some portion of the top of a mountain or ridge to expose and mine one or more coal seams. The excess overburden is disposed of in constructed fills in small valleys or hollow adjacent to the mining site. Our conclusions, based on evidence from the peer-reviewed literature and from thh U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement released in 2005, are that MTM-VF lead directly to five principal alterations of stream ecosystems: (1) springs, intermittent streams, and small perennial streams are permanently lost with the removal of the mountain and from burial under fill, (2) concentrations of major chemical ions are persistently elevated downstream, (3) degraded water quality reaches levels that are acutely lethal to standard laboratory test organism, (4) seleminum concentrations are elevated, reaching concentrations that have caused toxic effects in fish and birds and (5) macroinvertebrate and fish communities are consistentl and significantly degraded.

Appalachia's Coal-Mined Landscapes

Appalachia's Coal-Mined Landscapes PDF

Author: Carl E. Zipper

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 3030577805

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book collects and summarizes current scientific knowledge concerning coal-mined landscapes of the Appalachian region in eastern United States. Containing contributions from authors across disciplines, the book addresses topics relevant to the region’s coal-mining history and its future; its human communities; and the soils, waters, plants, wildlife, and human-use potentials of Appalachia’s coal-mined landscapes. The book provides a comprehensive overview of coal mining’s legacy in Appalachia, USA. It book describes the resources of the Appalachian coalfield, its lands and waters, and its human communities – as they have been left in the aftermath of intensive mining, drawing upon peer-reviewed science and other regional data to provide clear and objective descriptions. By understanding the Appalachian experience, officials and planners in other resource extraction- affected world regions can gain knowledge and perspectives that will aid their own efforts to plan and manage for environmental quality and for human welfare. Appalachia's Coal-Mined Landscapes: Resources and Communities in a New Energy Era will be of use to natural resource managers and scientists within Appalachia and in other world regions experiencing widespread mining, researchers with interest in the region’s disturbance legacy, and economic and community planners concerned with Appalachia’s future.

Lost Mountain

Lost Mountain PDF

Author: Erik Reece

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2007-02-06

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9781594482366

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A new form of strip mining has caused a state of emergency for the Appalachian wilderness and the communities that depend on it-a crisis compounded by issues of government neglect, corporate hubris, and class conflict. In this powerful call to arms, Erik Reece chronicles the year he spent witnessing the systematic decimation of a single mountain and offers a landmark defense of a national treasure threatened with extinction.

Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia

Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia PDF

Author: Susan F. Hirsch

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 2014-09-12

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 082144509X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Residents of the Appalachian coalfields share a history and heritage, deep connections to the land, and pride in their own resilience. These same residents are also profoundly divided over the practice of mountaintop mining—that is, the removal and disposal in nearby valleys of soil and rock in order to reach underlying coal seams. Companies and some miners claim that the practice has reduced energy prices, earned income for shareholders, and provided needed jobs. Opponents of mountaintop mining argue that it poisons Appalachia’s waters and devastates entire communities for the sake of short-term gains. This conflict is emblematic of many other environmental disputes in the United States and around the world, disputes whose intensity derives not only from economic and environmental stakes but also from competing claims to individual and community identity. Looking beyond the slogans and seemingly irreconcilable differences, however, can reveal deeper causes of conflict, such as flawed institutions, politics, and inequality or the strongly held values of parties for whom compromise is difficult to achieve. Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia focuses on the people of the region, the people who have the most at stake and have been the most active in trying to shift views and practices. By examining the experiences of these stakeholders and their efforts to effect change, Susan F. Hirsch and E. Franklin Dukes introduce key concepts and theories from the field of conflict analysis and resolution. They provide a compelling case study of how stakeholders challenge governance-as-usual, while offering insight into the causes of conflict over other environmental issues.

Lanterna Rally - Theme by Grace Themes