Coal mining

Coal mining is negatively impacting Appalachian communities throughout several states (Sierra Club 2009)[1]

Introduction

The Appalachia Region (Appalachian Regional Commission 2009)[2]

Appalachia encompasses a vast area of land, specifically a 205,000-square-mile region, Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Coal has had a long history in the coal country area, and still remains a prevalent and cultural symbol of the area (Appalachian Regional Commission 2009).

Mining Methods

Coal is fossil fuel composed of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, formed from vegetation and compressed into a combustible organic rock over millions of years to form coal seams. Two major forms of coal formed during this geologic process, both of which are found in the Appalachia region of the United States, are bituminous and anthracite coal; anthracite coal has a higher carbon energy content than bituminous coal but is only found in eastern Pennsylvania, while bituminous coal is found throughout the Appalachia region.

Two major mining techniques are used in this region, depending on the location of the coal seam, irregardless of they type of coal being extracted. Deep coal seams require underground mining methods, such as longwall mining and room and deep pillar mining. Surface mining is only economically viable when the coal seam is near the surface. This method recovers a higher proportion of the coal deposit than underground mining; 90% or more of the coal can be recovered. Coal mining – particularly surface mining – requires large areas of land to be temporarily disturbed. This raises a number of environmental challenges, including soil erosion, dust, noise and water pollution, and impacts on local biodiversity (WCI 2005).

Economic Benefits

While coal mining has serious environmental and human health effects, coal is an important fossil fuel to the U.S. economy, particularly in the Appalachia. About half of the nation’s electricity is generated from coal. In addition, coal is a critical raw material used in the production of steel. It is also used by the petrochemical industry for the production of methanol, which ends up in products such as plywood, plastic bottles, and acrylic coatings for traffic signs and automobiles. Coal is also the most abundant fossil energy resource in the United States (WCI 2005).

The coal mining industry provides economic benefits in the form of employment, wages, federal and state taxes, and charitable contributions, which also create jobs in other sectors of the economy outside of coal mining. In 2007, coal mines employed a total of 122,940, including 38,865 contractors. The largest states for coal mining employment were West Virginia (31,700), Kentucky (22,760), Pennsylvania (11,170), Virginia (9,270) and Wyoming (8,600). For each job in coal mining, an additional 3.5 jobs are created elsewhere in the economy - a total of 4.5 jobs including coal miners. Overall, the coal mining industry in the U.S. generated a total of 554,650 jobs during 2007 (NMA 2009). In each coal mining state in Appalachia, mining operations provide direct employment, such as machine operators and miners, high paying wages; indirect employment through other industries both within and outside the regions that rely on coal mining such as electrical generation, steel production, and petrochemical industries; income tax revenue; and also contribute to a percent of overall state gross domestic product (GDP), as shown in the figure below. The interdependence of many economic sectors on the coal mining industry magnifies its importance, making it an entrenched part of the overall U.S. economy and also making a full consideration of its environmental and economic costs all the more difficult to incorporate into the price of coal (RE: Joint Coal Industry Comments 2004).

Mining Regulations

Every mining project is subject to a number of federal and state environmental laws and regulations that evaluate a project’s impacts to the land, air, water, human health, and wildlife, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Some of the major regulatory laws that apply to coal mining include Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Mine Safety and Health Act. In addition to meeting NEPA requirements, each mining project also requires a federally issued permit and must go through a process of public review before any permit is issued (NMA 2000).

Impact of Surface and Underground Mining

Both surface mining and underground mining share several negative impacts on the human health and the environment, including the health and stability of ecosystems and wildlife. These negative impacts include degraded groundwater and surface water and loss of aquatic life in local waterways, caused by acid mine drainage from both active and abandoned mines. Other negative impacts shared by surface and underground mining include the human health affects of contaminated water, a drop in local property values, mine fires, the cost of water treatment, and reclamation.

Acid Mine Drainage

Acid Mine Drainage, Source: [3]

Source: PADEP 2006

Acid mine drainage (AMD) refers to the water with high concentrations of sulfuric acid draining out of surface and subsurface coal mines, as well as coal refuse piles. Water moving through acidic mine spoils causes acid mine drainage. The water, containing pyrite, and iron sulfide from mine tailings, reacts with air and water to form sulfuric acid and dissolved iron, with the iron giving stream sediments a red, orange, or yellow color. The high acidity causes heavy metals such as copper, lead, and mercury to leach into groundwater or surface water. In addition to contaminating drinking water supplies, acid mine drainage disrupts the growth and reproduction of aquatic plants and animals, degrades the quality of recreational fishing and tourism, and can cause corrosion of water pipes. The pH of these acidic waters can be as low as 2.3, more acidic than battery acid. (PADEP 2006).

Acid mine drainage is the number one cause of water pollution in Pennsylvania and all other Appalachian coal mining states (PADEP 2006). Over 95% of the acid mine drainage problem is located in western Pennsylvania, almost all of West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and far western Maryland (EPA 2008).

In the case of PA, the majority of these acid discharges come from abandoned mines, since PADEP no longer allows coal mining in areas likely to generate acid discharges. Acid mine drainage has affected PA’s four major river basins; it has specifically made 2500 miles of rivers and streams uninhabitable to fish and unsuitable for drinking, with an addition 500 miles of waterways designated as “impaired” (PADEP 2006). This total of 3000 miles of contaminated streams has had a severe negative impact on local tourism and sport fishing revenue; PA loses an estimated $67 million annually it would otherwise gain if sport fishing were restored in the affected streams. The estimated cost of restoring those damaged watersheds ranges from $5 -$15 billion (USGS 2008).

Water Treatment

To treat acid mine drainage, DEP uses a combination of active and passive treatment methods. Active treatments methods involve water treatment facilities, while passive treatment methods use natural features such as wetlands that raise the pH of the water. Passive treatment methods, although less expensive, however, are not as effective on a large scale as water treatment plants (PADEP 1996b). As of 2006, PADEP has constructed five water treatment plants and hundreds of passive treatment systems for the sole purpose of treating waters impacted by acid mine drainage (PADEP 2006), spending over $90 million as of 1996 (PADEP 1996b). One project alone – the restoration of the Northern Swatara Creek – cost over $731,026, with $300,000 coming from the PADEP Abandoned Mine Reclamation Funds (USGS 2008). PADEP has also spent over $2.1 million to replace residential water supplies caused by contaminations and by abandoned mine shafts filling with water and lowering the water table (PADEP 1996b).

Mine Fires

Coal mine fires, or coal seam fires, can occur in both surface and subsurface mines. They can be caused by lightening, forest fires, mine subsidence, the burning of trash, and electrical sparks from equipment. These fires have serious social, ecological, and economic impacts (PADEP 2008); they can spread throughout a surface coal deposit or along an entire coal seam, which makes extinguishing the fire extremely expensive and nearly impossible (PADEP 1996), and can ultimately require relocation of entire towns, as in the case of Centralia, PA. The infamous Centralia fire, one of the worst underground mine fires in the U.S., has been burning since May 1963, when the Centralia Borough Council ignited trash to control rodent populations in an abandoned strip mine used as a dump at the edge of town. The burning trash ignited the Buck anthracite coal seam, which continues to burn and spread, emitting toxic chemicals such as mercury into the atmosphere. Most of the residents were forced to relocate; of the 1,100 residents of Centralia in 1962, only 20 residents remained as of 2008 (PADEP 2008). The cost of the Centralia, PA mine fire alone totaled over $30 million, with most of the costs going toward relocation of residents (PADEP 1996a). To date, PADEP has spent more than $53 million fighting mine fires (PADEP 1996b).

Reclamation Costs

In 1977, Congress passed the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Title IV of SMCRA established the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Reclamation Program under the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The program was developed to reclaim land and water resourced negatively impacted by past coal mining, as well as abandoned or inadequately restored mines (NAALMP 2009). Under this law, active coal operators pay a 35-cent fee for each ton of surface-mined coal and a 15-cent fee for each ton of deep mined coal. These fees go into the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Trust Fund, which is distributed to the states and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) (PADEP 1996).

Most of Pennsylvania’s coal mining operations took place before reclamation requirements were put in place. Because of this, PA has over 2,500 miles of streams polluted by acid mine drainage; 250,000 acres of abandoned mines in 45 of its 67 counties (PADEP 1997); 100 million cubic feet of burning coal refuse (PA Township News 1996); 9,000 abandoned mines, 5,600 of which have been designated as human health and safety hazards (PADEP 2006); with $635,477,480 invested by PA and the federal government since 1967 to address abandoned mine problems, and an estimated $15 billion worth of reclamation still remaining. These reclamation projects in PA include closing and backfilling mine openings and open pits, eliminating dangerous highwalls, extinguishing or stopping the advancement of underground mine fires, treating acid mine drainage, re-vegetating abandoned mine sites, and controlling mine subsidence (PADEP 2009).

Pollution

There are several types of pollution associated with coal mining. There is air pollution from the dust produced from blasting and from the trucks. This air pollution has been suspected to be bad for human health. there is noise pollution from the trucks and the blasting.(PADEP 2005) The blasting produces "fly rock" which is air born rocks and sometimes boulders that affect the community. Also, there is water pollution called acid mine drainage.

Specific Impact of Surface Mining

Surface mining, such as strip mining and mountaintop removal, has other health and environmental costs associated with it, in addition to those shared with underground mining. These include direct damage to streams buried with the overburden dumped into valleys from the mountaintop mining sites. Another important cost is that of site remediation.

Valley Fills

A valley fill is when the coal company disposes of the extra rock and earth, that is left over from exposing the coal, in the adjacent valley. This method of disposal is very detrimental to the environment because it buries streams. The dumping of this "overburden" destroys aquifers and underground springs which severely decreases the probability that the natural forest will be able to re-grow. The ecosystem that depends on the stream is completely destroyed and therefore there is a severe loss in biodiversity. (Moutaintop removal mining stealing Appalachia)

Reclamation Costs

Although there is now legislation that requires the mines to save money for reclamation, there are still many mines that have not been reclaimed because they wee closed before the legislation was passed. In the case of surface mining, reclamation is very difficult. Full restoration of a surface mine may not occur for hundreds of years. (eces) Many times the reclamation does not restore the natural ecosystems. Forests are turned into grasslands because trees have a very hard time growing in the polluted soils. (Mountaintop removal mining stealing Appalachia).

Specific Impact of Underground Mining

Underground mining, such as longwall mining, room and deep pillar mining, has other health and environmental costs associated with it, in addition to those shared with surface mining. These include issues of mine subsidence and insurance for property owners, dealing with underground mine fires, and the health impact of dangerous mine gases and other safety hazards that both mine workers and community members can be exposed to. Additional resource for worker exposure limits: [6]

Mine Subsidence

Mine subsidence occurs when underground mine tunnels collapse below towns and homes, cause the ground surface to shift, building foundations to crumble, roads to collapse, and holes to open up in the ground. In extreme cases, these gaping holes can swallow entire streams (PADEP 2006). In order to cover the cost of potential damages, residents in areas of abandoned underground mines have to pay for mine subsidence insurance. As of 1996, PADEP has spent more then $114 million to correct subsidence problems (PADEP 1996).

Dangerous Chemical Hazards

The health impact encountered by the ecosystems surrounding underground mines is as a result of coal sludge. Coal sludge refers to the liquid waste resulting from the washing of coal. This liquid is stored in impoundments/dams made from the solid waste from the underground mines (Sludge Safety Project, 2009). This sludge is a major source of for acid mine drainage (AMD). Sludge contains dissolved metal ions which are easy to transport and quickly leak into surface water and resulting in contamination of streams (CHEEICU, 1980). AMD can be very destructive to fish populations since it lowers the pH of water by introducing metal ions such as sulfur into water. Limestone streams provide a slightly alkaline water concentration, which support trout and other alkaline flourishing aquatic biota (Freestone versus Limestone, 2007). Increased AMD in limestone streams would ravage the health fish populations. A good example is the underground acid pools of the Appalachian Coal fields, which end in Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Consequently, lakes lose their biodiversity through sickness and death, due to increased acidity in water. In Eastern US, the major significant source of contamination of streams is drainage from abandoned coal mines (CHEEICU, 1980). However, as a result of amendments in the Clean Water Act, mine operators are now responsible for any contamination that their mine causes on any water body (Santhanam et.al., 1979).

The biomagnifications of chemicals constitute the other major health factor resulting from underground mining. Coal sludge contains heavy metals and radioactive substances such as thorium (restricted at 2ppm) mercury, uranium (restricted at 1ppm), and cadmium; all have carcinogenic traits. Since 10% of settled sludge (which includes fly ash) runs off to surface water or is leached to ground water, health of both fish and humans becomes crucial (CHEEICU, 1980). Since toxicity of substances magnifies as you move up the food chain, those who eat fish place themselves in increased risk. The problem arises in assessing the impact on humans since it is difficult to understand how these chemicals react, on a molecular level, with the aquatic animals and the population that eats the aquatic animals. Additionally, safe water becomes an issue due to contamination by AMD coming from abandoned mines or sludge. For instance, water in Chesapeake Bay is under continued contamination by AMD resulting from mining of high sulfur coal in West Virginia (CHEEICU, 1980). The process of quantifying impacts on human and aquatic health becomes very bluer and complex.

Dangerous Mine Gases and Other Safety Hazards Affecting Miners

One of the shortcomings of underground coal mining is the negative health effects arise as a result of continued exposure to substances and gases that result from the process of coal mining. The most common of this is the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis, also known as Black Lung (Joyce, 1998). Black lung occurs when inhaled dust particles settle in the lungs, and air sacks, causing t he scaring of inner tissues of the lung. Of all the mine respiratory diseases, black lung is the most deadly; it has a 60% mortality rate (Joyce, 1998). Another respiratory disease of equal fatality is silicosis, which is as a result of inhaling quartz and silica dust particles. The maximum dust exposure limit is set at 2mg/m^3. In addition to toxic dust, miners are also exposed to underground gases such as methane, which are highly toxic to human beings, and can easily result in death through suffocation if they are inhaled for long amounts of time. Compared to other mining industries such as gold and diamond, Coal mining has the highest PMR rates (proportionality mortality rates) of pneumoconiosis (Joyce, 1998).

Other non respiratory health effects experienced by the miners include joint and hearing problems. Miners are protected under the Federal Mine & Safety Health Act (MSHA-1977), which ensures miner workers are giver the necessary equipment to ensure he is not exposed to critical levels of toxic dust or gases (United States Department of Labor, 2008). Other than MSHA, the health impacts of underground mining on miners have reduced drastically, especially in developed countries, due to the use of cleaner technology such as electrostatic precipitators and filters, and the shift from underground to surface mining. In the 1930, surface mining represented about 8% of the coal mining process (90% of coal mining was done underground). In the late 1970s, surface mining represented almost 60% of the entire mining process (Joyce, 1998).

Social Activism

Environmental group against big coal in Kansas (Sierra Club 2009)[4]

Coal mining has certainly been opposed by many grassroots organizations and government agencies. Given the environmental and social injustice carried out by coal producers, which target low income communities, with low education rates and negative social stereotypes. The term most commonly used when referring to these individuals is “white trash”.

Comparison of Coal Consumption to Coal Generation (EIA 2008)[5]

The need for diligent groups to defend communities has not gone unnoticed. One specific group is the Coal River Mountain Watch in West Virginia which strives to educate Americans about the clean water act and where electricity is generated from, and how that affects people of coal communities (Coal River Mountain Watch 2009). Most notably, the Coal River Mountain Watch group’s mission is to end mountaintop removal, which debilitates the surrounding area. One approach the group advocates for is conservation. Through reducing the energy use in homes, coal producers will lessen their demand to completely dissolve the land covering small layers of coal mines. This will dramatically reduce the need for surface mined coal, and mountain top removal. Currently our consumption of coal exceeds the generation of coal, which is exacerbated by the increase in population.

References

National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs (NAAMLP). 2009. “Overview.” [7]

National Mining Association (NMA) 2000. “Mining and Environmental Stewardship.” NMA: Washington, D.C. [8]

National Mining Association (NMA). 2009. “The Economic Contribution of U.S. Mining in 2007: Providing Vital Resources for America.” NMA: Washington, D.C. [9]

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 1996a. “Centralia Mine Fire.” Abandoned Mine Reclamation. [10]

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 1996b. “Paying the Price: Pennsylvania’s Rich Legacy of Coal Leaves Problems for Today.” Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Township News. pp. 9-21.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 1997. Abandoned Mines: Pennsylvania's Single Biggest Water Pollution Problem.” Abandoned Mine Reclamation. [11]

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 2006. “Dredged Material in Abandoned Mine Reclamation: The Bark Camp Demonstration Project (Report). New York/New Jersey Clean Ocean and Shore Trust. pp. 1-95/88. [12]

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 2005. "Mountaintop Mining/Valley Fills in Appalachia Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement." USEPA. pp. 69-71

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 2008. “Centralia Mine Fire Mercury Study Final Report.” Bureau of Air Quality. pp. 1-21.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). 2009. “Status Report: The Environmental Legacy of Coal Mining in Pennsylvania.” Abandoned Mine Reclamation. [13]

RE: Joint Coal Industry Comments on the Mountaintop Mining/Valley Fill. 2004. Documented Industry Reply to John Forren, U.S. EPA: Philadelphia, PA, pp. 1-138.

U.S. Geological Survey. 2008. “Coal-Mine-Drainage Projects in Pennsylvania.” New Cumberland, PA: USGS. [14]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2008. “Abandoned Mines’ Role in Nonpoint Source Pollution.” Washington, D.C. EPA: [15]

World Coal Institute (WCI). 2005. “The Coal Resource: A Comprehensive Overview of Coal.” WCI: London, UK. Pp. 1-44. [16]