Mountain Top Removal
APES- Land and Water Use Unit Mountain Top Removal Webquest http://appvoices.org/end-mountaintop-removal/ Name: Brandon Tran Answer the following questions:
Mountaintop Removal 101
1: What is mountaintop removal?
-A way of extracting coal in where coal companies blast hundreds of feet of a mountain ridge top using explosives to access thin seams of coal below
2: How does each of the following affect the environment:
• Clearing
Before mining can start, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed often causing destruction. Usually by burning or illegally dumping into the valley
• Blasting
Removes 600 feet or more of elevation
• Digging
Removal of coal and debris using enormous machines
• Dumping Waste
Dumping of debris into nearby valleys, causing more than 2,000 miles of headwater streams.
• Processing
Chemically treating coal before it is shipped. The excess produced is dumped into open impoundments
• Reclaimation
Sites receive more than a spraying of exotic grass seed
3: Where is mountaintop removal happening? -
It takes place in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.
4: What can be done to stop mountaintop removal?
-Passing the Clean Water Protection Act. as well as providing restrictions on mine permits. Essentially it all rests in the hands of those higher up in government.
5: What agencies are involved in regulating mountaintop removal?
-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement are the federal agencies involved.
6: What is one reason why we don’t need to use this type of process?
-It provides roughly 3% of our nation’s electricity and has been dropping for years
Economic Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
7: Summarize the economic impacts of mountaintop removal
-It reduces economical value due to loss of jobs from coal mining; although it has reduced deaths due to the lack of mines, it has severely increased pollution, extinction of species, and deforestation. These things are few of the actual problems that arise, it not only upsets the balance of nature but it plays a key role in the weather and change of niches.
Ecological Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
8: Summarize the ecological impacts of mountaintop removal
-Pollution of nearly 2,000 miles of headwater stream, forest elimination, destruction of restoring native hardwood forest habitat, and fish species are in danger as well.
Community Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
9: How does mountaintop removal affect the local community?
-It causes increased mortality due to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. It contaminates drinking water and causes fly rock, which is when communities are blanketed in dust and rocks of all sizes. It also causes powerful flash floods. It also allows for contamination for other places due to the dumping of an enormous amount of waste and not to mention respiratory problems.
Mountaintop Removal 101
1: What is mountaintop removal?
-A way of extracting coal in where coal companies blast hundreds of feet of a mountain ridge top using explosives to access thin seams of coal below
2: How does each of the following affect the environment:
• Clearing
Before mining can start, all topsoil and vegetation must be removed often causing destruction. Usually by burning or illegally dumping into the valley
• Blasting
Removes 600 feet or more of elevation
• Digging
Removal of coal and debris using enormous machines
• Dumping Waste
Dumping of debris into nearby valleys, causing more than 2,000 miles of headwater streams.
• Processing
Chemically treating coal before it is shipped. The excess produced is dumped into open impoundments
• Reclaimation
Sites receive more than a spraying of exotic grass seed
3: Where is mountaintop removal happening? -
It takes place in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.
4: What can be done to stop mountaintop removal?
-Passing the Clean Water Protection Act. as well as providing restrictions on mine permits. Essentially it all rests in the hands of those higher up in government.
5: What agencies are involved in regulating mountaintop removal?
-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement are the federal agencies involved.
6: What is one reason why we don’t need to use this type of process?
-It provides roughly 3% of our nation’s electricity and has been dropping for years
Economic Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
7: Summarize the economic impacts of mountaintop removal
-It reduces economical value due to loss of jobs from coal mining; although it has reduced deaths due to the lack of mines, it has severely increased pollution, extinction of species, and deforestation. These things are few of the actual problems that arise, it not only upsets the balance of nature but it plays a key role in the weather and change of niches.
Ecological Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
8: Summarize the ecological impacts of mountaintop removal
-Pollution of nearly 2,000 miles of headwater stream, forest elimination, destruction of restoring native hardwood forest habitat, and fish species are in danger as well.
Community Impacts of Mountaintop Removal
9: How does mountaintop removal affect the local community?
-It causes increased mortality due to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. It contaminates drinking water and causes fly rock, which is when communities are blanketed in dust and rocks of all sizes. It also causes powerful flash floods. It also allows for contamination for other places due to the dumping of an enormous amount of waste and not to mention respiratory problems.