Environmental Sanctions And Safety Standards

Appalachia, a vast, beautiful panoply of lush green mountains. At least, most of the thin line of peaks that make up the Appalachian Mountains used to be that way. Currently, the continued spread of a method of coal extraction known as mountaintop removal mining has plagued areas of the eastern United States, mainly including the state of West Virginia. Throughout its increasing stages of implementation, mountaintop removal mining has caused numerous hampering effects, including causing serious harm to nearby residents, and polluting a once-pure environment. Because of this, mountaintop removal mining needs to be limited in order to preserve the natural state of the Appalachian Mountains.

Arguing flaws in the expansion of Appalachia’s postwar economy, Eller responds this led to “growth without development”. With the coal industry flourishing

Burns, Shirley Stewart. Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007. Print.

In Appalachia laws had to be passed to keep coal companies from buying mineral rights and forcing people off of their land. If a company had the rights to the minerals under the property, they could mine without consent. It is hard to bear the thought of someone being that ruthless, but greed can drive man to do horrible things. Thankfully, laws were passed that helped the owners of the land, surface owners, to be compensated. The owner of the natural resources, mineral owners, must pay the land owner a royalty for extracting the natural resource from the property. Also, all damages done to the property were covered by the company ("Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas"). A small price to pay for multi-millionaires to increase their vast

A documentary called "From the Ashes" speaks about the employees, and communities that are supported by coal mines. In the documentary the director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, Mary Anne Hitt, goes on to describe a "life and death struggle" when mine layoffs occur. This means that the employees will lose their pensions, healthcare, and basically their livelihood. It was believed that the increase of miner layoffs was due to environmental regulations, but that was proven incorrect by the US Energy and Information Administration. One of the leading causes is the increased use of natural gases, and a statistical analysis over a 6 year time period proves that when natural gas usage increases, then coal usage

Many companies have made money from the coal industry; however, the money has not stayed within the state. Big businesses have exploited the resources creating rich executives and leaving the Appalachian area stripped of its bounty. Currently, big businesses are involved in mountain-top removal to remove resources from our mountains. This leaves many of the beautiful mountains destroyed, pollutes the water systems and kills the wildlife and vegetation. The coal industry which once supported many families in the Appalachian area is now becoming the downfall of our tourist

“The NAACP and its allies released a research report titled Coal Blooded: Profit before people.” This report tells how coal pollution impacts low income and the colored community’s the most. Cold blooded uses demographic factors to show proof that the coal pollution impacts the low income and colored community the most. Coal blooded states “that coal pollution is literally killing low-income communities and colored communities.” Coal blooded also states that emissions controls are not sufficient “Coal blood has laid the frame work for individuals, organizations and policymakers to make a transition from coal to other energy sources.” We need to replace coal with clean energy alternatives. This report shows how harmful coal plants are to the

Identify one of the parties involved in the issues of coal mining and explain that party’s interest in the issue. One of the biggest industries described in the movie is Massey Energy. This is a large coal mining industry that is mining the Appalachia Mountains. They do not believe they are doing any harm. The workers truly think that they are putting the mountains back to how they left them. To the CEO and president of the company though, they know what they’re doing isn’t right. However, money seems to be more important to them than the lives of the

With that being said here are some environmental impacts of coal you may not know about. The air pollutants cause acid rain, smog ,respiratory illnesses, cancers and toxins in the environment. Coal miners can get respiratory illnesses from the coal dust while mining. If an abandoned coal mine catches fire it puts tons of mercury into the atmosphere, this happens every year and is responsible for three percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally. The second largest contributor to

Mountaintop mining has been practiced in the United States since the 1960s, primarily in the Appalachian Mountains. The process involves removing all tress from the site, then the topsoil, and then using explosives to remove the remaining soil and rock to reveal coal. The coal is removed and processed, and then the mountaintop is “reclaimed” with soil or an appropriate substitute, and sometimes replanted.6 While mountaintop mining in the Appalachians is only a small percentage of coal produced by the United States, the issues surrounding it are complex and wide-ranging. Some of the many issues raised with mountaintop mining are: high unemployment (due to the lessened man power needed to operate the mining machinery), deforestation,

I strongly believe that people should be educated about the December, 1907 3,000 coal mining deaths. In 2001 there were 42 coal mining deaths. All these deaths meant wives loosing husbands and sons. These deaths cause the lost of the bread winners in many house-holds; which, would later add to poverty and single parents.

Prices for coal are currently down. This drop has coincided with the drop in oil prices. Originally, it was expected that these two prices would be tied together, and that the drop would be quite temporary. However, the longer that coal has been down, the more likely it looks like it is down for the count so to speak. Many analysts believe that there has been an over-production of coal in the past decade and the market has been saturated as a result. With every passing month that coal’s prices stay low, and the supplies keep growing, it becomes less likely that things will turn around for the better in a permanent manner. Even with the rest of the world playing catchup with the transition to zero carbon-intensive energy sources, the U.S. coal exports have been extremely low. China, for instance, has imported less in recent years. At one point, they were helping to drive our export market. In response to the lower demand, many mining corporations have begun to optimize their operations. This has been done by focusing on lower mining production costs, cheaper transportation costs, and favorable exchange rates. The goal is to keep operations from further declining profit-wise as the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects a 7% decrease in total coal consumption for the year 2015. This decline in coal consumption will likely cause a decline in coal production, causing a decline in jobs for states such as Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, and

In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.

Another perspective to look at it is that social impact mining has. Though it can be difficult to separate the economic impact from the social, because many social issues are the result of poverty. Meaning that if the mining

The mining industry has seen an explosive growth from the past few decades. It has played an important role in economic growth, infrastructure development and a raise in the living standard of the whole world. According to the Australian National Accounting System, the mining sector has made contributions of 9.8% GDP growth to the Australian economy between 2008 to 2009 (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2012). However, the mining industry has caused many environmental issues such as adverse effect to air, land and water quality and continues to affect global environment as a whole. According to the World Health Organization, it evaluated that 25% of worldwide death are directly associated with environmental pollution (Blacksmith Institute, n.d). This essay will outline the environmental issue raised by the mining industry with pinpoint focus on the effects to air, water and land. It will also provide strategies for mining companies to improve the environmental conditions.