Essay on Mountaintop Mining and Environmental and Energy Policy

It seems as if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been avoiding encounters with people who are fighting for environmental justice. However, there may be an underlying reason why the EPA is not putting effort into these environmental problems. Over the years, the EPA has experienced budget cuts, this has resulted in the loss of jobs and programs. When money is not readily available, the amount of money that is available is usually conserved and only used when necessary. It does not look as if they are the reason why majority of the issues are not be taken care of. Based on my understanding of the article, it seems as if the EPA is working at the will of the government. The people working in the agency are responsible for doing their

When asked to think of coal mining, what comes to mind? A mountain with a hole cut into the side of it with a set of railroad tracks disappearing into it? Maybe an old mine car or two full of some rocks or coal, with a pickaxe and shovel leaning against it. A few guys with hard hats covered in a black powder coming walking out of the mine pushing a car or two full of coal. The technology has advanced but the process is basically still the same as well as the outcome. Coal is retrieved from underground and taken to factories to be burnt to create electricity or to fuel the steel mills.

Fossil Fuels are extremely harmful to the environment, especially in the ways the fuel is obtained, such as mining or hydraulic fracturing. Coal, a commonly used fossil fuel, can be obtained by strip mining, mountaintop mining, or underground mining (“Coal Explained”). Strip mining has disastrous effects on the environment because of the destructive nature of the process, which removes all soil, rock, trees, and plants above coal deposits. The runoff from this pollutes streams and rivers nearby, which can harm aquatic life and disfigure the body of water,

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.

My great-grandfather mined in coal mines in Nitro, West Virginia for years. My great uncle currently works at a factory where he is only limited to do certain aspects of his job due to recent EPA regulations restricting what the factory can do due to the factory producing chemicals within the air that is harmful to the environment. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has a plan to combat these unnecessary EPA regulations stated within the following quote “The current Administration, and particularly its EPA, seems not to care. Its Clean Power Plan — the centerpiece of the President’s war on coal — has been stayed by the Supreme Court. We will do away with it altogether.” Donald Trump and the Republican Party understands that the effort to protect the environment has gone too far with extreme measures as he states in this quote “We will end the war on coal and the war on miners.” The idea of preserving my great-grandfather’s hard work, along with my great uncle’s career drives me to the polls because the government is attempting to help them in theory, but just as recently stated, have gone too far in their efforts to protect the environment and thus I must stand up and go to the polls this November to save coal along with my family’s hard

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.

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

Mountaintop removal is process where the tops of mountains are removed with explosives in order to extract coal from inside the mountain. The debris created by the explosions is discarded in a valley, which is then called fill material. A loophole in the Clean Water Act reclassified the waste created by mountaintop removal waste as valley fill, which in turn greatly increased extraction of coal from mountains (225). These valleys usually contain streams which become buried underneath fill, causing much of the natural habitat to vanish and poisoning what streams are left. The older and more traditional method was to dig inside the mountain through a tunnel network which was more time-consuming and required much more personnel. Of course, when companies

Now, we have President Trump, who wants to put a known coal lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, into an executive position at the EPA. Even though, he signed an executive order to limit lobbying influence in government and “drain the swamp”, but puts people in power who favor energy industries and want to sacrifice environmental regulations (Chow, 2017). Wheeler has worked in government before, as an EPA staffer and a Republican staff member, and worked on every major piece of environmental and energy-related legislation over the last decade. If Wheeler and others like him are put into these executive positions, they will use their power to regulate policies, so it will look more favorably at reducing environmental regulations, and supporting energy

The General Mining Act of 1872 encourages people and companies to prospect for minerals on federally owned land. This encourages US citizens and businesses to stake a claim on the plot of land and patent the claim for about $5 per acre. (Withgott) Until recently, there was no requirement to restore the land after mining. Several mining techniques have been used over the years. From strip mining, subsurface mining to open pit, placer, and mountaintop mining.

The author identified two Appalachian crisis in this article. First, the author mentioned that many people in Appalachia places like eastern Kentucky lost nearly 70% of their coal jobs to mechanization (mountain removal strip mines). Also, the author argued that mountain removal causes the most deaths related to cancer and other diseases in central Appalachia.

Coal mining, in particular, strip mining has become the latest casualty of the growing green movement in the United States. What is strip mining? Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines strip mining as the removal of vegetation, soil, and rock above a layer of coal, followed by the removal of the coal itself (“strip”). Most Americans don’t realize the impact this material of biological origin that can be used as a source of energy (“fossil”), or fossil fuel, has on their everyday lives or the nation’s economy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the mining industry directly employs some fifty thousand Americans with nearly half that number working in the more specific field of strip mining, or mountain top removal

The bulk of The Sierra Club’s stances and viewpoints are rife with notions that display the liberal agenda of the organization. Environmentalism and the changes needed to be made to support it are none other than liberal perspectives. As, conservatives, such as blue collar workers and oil companies, are afraid and threatened by new legislation to protect the environment. So naturally, the conservatives oppose such changes in order to continue their operations and not succumb to new environmental measures. This idea is found within the erstwhile Grand Canyon Campaign, in which The Sierra Club compromised with the Bureau of Reclamation in order to save the Grand Canyon from flooding. Though, the bureau still got their power in terms of coal power plants. However, the liberal agenda can be identified most apparently within the various acts of legislation the pushed through to get passed. “The Sierra Club’s political program is dedicated to electing clean air, clean water and climate action champions at all levels of government” (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia 2016). These Acts dealing with air, water, and other subjects like endangered species, has led to various implementation of regulation within society. The idea of regulations are more liberal as they trust in the government to help take action with these acts rather than a conservatism view in which they believe the government should not be so intrusive. However, despite The Sierra Clubs political spectrum, it is

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.