It’s a method that goes beyond strip-mining – basically clear-cutting all the trees and literally dynamiting the top of the mountain off to mine it. Obviously there isn’t much left thereafter. They are supposed to fill in and replant, but you have radically changed the mountain. Also, since you are blasting stuff into the air, the pollution of nearby areas is pretty severe, especially sulphur, since it’s used primarily for coal mining. It’s much cheaper than conventional coal mining, which is why it is being done, and theoretically provides land usable for development thereafter, since it is now flat. The link below is to a site against it, but still informative.
http://tinyurl.com/lz23sy
It takes the top of the mountain, including poisonous minerals etc, pushes it into the stream and river drainages, filling in the valleys and destroying and/or poisoning whole watersheds, and aquifers, to get at “clean coal”. It is among the “worst of the worst” mining practices, in the entire world, and was only allowed because of a certain administration that must remain blameless. Large portions of Appalachia, environment, AND human populations, have forever been damaged, or killed- yep the flatline is a good metaphor.
Ease up a little there, fennec. scottfreitas is clearly putting some genuine effort into expressing his views here with more decorum, and I think we should all take that into account in our responses. Feel free to disagree and to point out logical inconsistencies. But so long as our interlocutor is trying (even if not always successfully) to disagree without being disagreeable, we should all do our best to reciprocate.
thanks for answering my question mr. scott - your information is really clean, as well as your opinion - even sensitive - there’s another scott under there after all. tks
Humph, yes, I’ve seen the impacts. I too appreciate scott’s more civil manner, but Earth, or ecosystems “healing themselves”, is highly overrated by those doing the destruction.
Exploration for natural gas is fracturing rock underground, and poisoning water sources over vast acreages of both surface and aquifer. Impacts from mountain top removal also effect systems over much larger areas than just “the foot of the hill”.
That is why as we ever increase the destructive actions of mining companies, for short term and relatively minor profit, are so egregious. Today, thousands of mine shafts around the country pose deadly threats because mining companies were never required to clean up their mess, and many of those shafts were a direct result of the 1872 Mining Act- allowing even “small” operations to cause HUGE impacts- for free.
ALL mining and mineral production (like, oil and natural gas) activities in the U.S. need intense review and revision. This is needed to “clean up their acts”, AND increase the revenue to the taxpayer from these activities on public lands that have been “ripping us off” for over a century.
Magnaut over 14 years ago
like Gore’s floating continent
parkersinthehouse over 14 years ago
i don’t get this one - motive? sr? canursa?
Motivemagus over 14 years ago
It’s a method that goes beyond strip-mining – basically clear-cutting all the trees and literally dynamiting the top of the mountain off to mine it. Obviously there isn’t much left thereafter. They are supposed to fill in and replant, but you have radically changed the mountain. Also, since you are blasting stuff into the air, the pollution of nearby areas is pretty severe, especially sulphur, since it’s used primarily for coal mining. It’s much cheaper than conventional coal mining, which is why it is being done, and theoretically provides land usable for development thereafter, since it is now flat. The link below is to a site against it, but still informative. http://tinyurl.com/lz23sy
Dtroutma over 14 years ago
It takes the top of the mountain, including poisonous minerals etc, pushes it into the stream and river drainages, filling in the valleys and destroying and/or poisoning whole watersheds, and aquifers, to get at “clean coal”. It is among the “worst of the worst” mining practices, in the entire world, and was only allowed because of a certain administration that must remain blameless. Large portions of Appalachia, environment, AND human populations, have forever been damaged, or killed- yep the flatline is a good metaphor.
tpenna over 14 years ago
Ease up a little there, fennec. scottfreitas is clearly putting some genuine effort into expressing his views here with more decorum, and I think we should all take that into account in our responses. Feel free to disagree and to point out logical inconsistencies. But so long as our interlocutor is trying (even if not always successfully) to disagree without being disagreeable, we should all do our best to reciprocate.
parkersinthehouse over 14 years ago
thanks for answering my question mr. scott - your information is really clean, as well as your opinion - even sensitive - there’s another scott under there after all. tks
HUMPHRIES over 14 years ago
Has anyone here actually “seen” the results of this type of mining ? It had some media hype a while back but, advertising is one thing …
Dtroutma over 14 years ago
Humph, yes, I’ve seen the impacts. I too appreciate scott’s more civil manner, but Earth, or ecosystems “healing themselves”, is highly overrated by those doing the destruction.
Exploration for natural gas is fracturing rock underground, and poisoning water sources over vast acreages of both surface and aquifer. Impacts from mountain top removal also effect systems over much larger areas than just “the foot of the hill”.
That is why as we ever increase the destructive actions of mining companies, for short term and relatively minor profit, are so egregious. Today, thousands of mine shafts around the country pose deadly threats because mining companies were never required to clean up their mess, and many of those shafts were a direct result of the 1872 Mining Act- allowing even “small” operations to cause HUGE impacts- for free.
ALL mining and mineral production (like, oil and natural gas) activities in the U.S. need intense review and revision. This is needed to “clean up their acts”, AND increase the revenue to the taxpayer from these activities on public lands that have been “ripping us off” for over a century.