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In the past decade, the mining of coal from the surface has become more prevalent compared with traditional underground coal mining, as the underground mines have needed to go deeper and deeper and have been finding less coal. The result of this change in mining practices, however, is the exploding of mountaintops (up to 600 feet vertically per blast) to turn those tops into manageable-sized rocks, from which coal can be dug out and shipped away.
The problems with this are many. They include destruction of large amounts of forest, releasing of arsenic and mercury and other severe contaminants into local water supplies, the burying of streams (over 1,000 miles of streams in the last 20 years) under tons of toxic rubble, and the accumulation of billions of gallons of dangerous coal sludge next to inhabited areas including schools and homes.
The EPA announced this week (announced Tuesday March 24th by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson) that they are putting a halt to hundreds of new mountaintop removal permits while their potential impact is re-evaluated. The use of mountaintop removal had been supported by the Bush Administration, especially in rulings made just before that Administration left office, through vague language in the rulings stating that mining companies had to make "reasonable" efforts to keep the rubble 100 feet from streams "when possible".
Many environmentalists are pleased that the Obama Administration has acted so quickly on this issue, which directly affects the health and lives of thousands of families and children in the mining areas. The accompanying video (two parts) has excellent details and visuals on the topic of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Read more:
Huffingonton Post
USA Today
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Fossil Fuel
