The Environmental Disaster Of The United States Essay

During and since World War II the United States has produced millions of tons of toxic wastes during the manufacturing and processing of products. These hazards were often left abandoned and no one really paid attention to their effect on our environment. In the 1980s Congress established a Superfund Program. It was left for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to administer the superfund program, to find these hazardous sites, investigate and determine the worst ones, and then clean up those sites across the United States. Over 15,000 sites were identified and 1,400 were named to the National Priorities List (NPL). One of the towns was Picher Oklahoma named in the Tar Creek Superfund Site.

When you think of problems in the world today, water pollution isn’t one that would normally come up. In fact it is one of the worst problems in the world today. Water pollution, by definition, is the contamination of streams, lakes, underground water, bays, or oceans by any substances harmful to living things. All living things contain water and most need water to survive, so water pollution is a big problem. If severe, the pollution can kill off birds, fish, and any animals that use the water source. In some cases even killing an entire species.

Daugneaux, Christine B. Appalachia: A Separate Place, A Unique People. Parsons: McLain Printing Company, 1981. Print.

Coal in the United States has long been the #1 producer of energy. Massive seams of coal are found in the Appalachian Mountains, and our reliance on this fossil fuel has meant devastation for many mountain residents and over 500 mountains. As our society advances, the need for more energy advances. What were once beautiful rolling hills are now flattened plateaus reminiscent of a landscape you would see in the desert. We as a nation have only short-term interest in our environment, and choose to ignore the many warning signs this planet continues to offer us. Left in our path of destruction are the many residents of Appalachia and a landscape that begs us for forgiveness.

Appalachia is a vast cultural and geographical region “that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.”4 The distinctive Appalachian culture is a result of the blend of unique backgrounds -Native American (primarily Cherokee), Celtic (mainly Scotch and English), Polish and German, and African American- and the geographical isolation that is revealed through their traditional arts and crafts, music, food, customs, and sometimes dialect.14 This isolation created “a greater

Some argue that, economically, the mining operation will be a net gain in money for the working class and that 75 to 80 percent of the jobs in northern Minnesota will be local [1]. However, for the project to fully go through, it requires “$200 million to $400 million in financial protections, and would overall be a financial liability for taxpayers” [2]. So despite how many jobs the project will create, it could result in a net loss of money for the people living in that area. Another problem that PolyMet thinks they have solved is the mass amount of pollution that will surface during the mining process. They say they will “use the most advanced mining procedures to extract the materials and prevent pollution during the mines 20 year life” [3]. Not only is this solution incredibly vague in its description, but many argue that “the pollution will be a problem long after the mine plays out and PolyMet is gone. The latest studies shows a possibility that the mine’s wastewater could flow north to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness” [3]. The argument that advanced procedures would be used against pollution falls short of satisfactory when their description is so ill-defined.

Since 1742, West Virginia has provided our nation and the world with the finest coal found anywhere. As of today, West Virginia’s coal miners apply useful and effective mineral removal technology that makes other countries envy their counterparts around the world. West Virginia’s exports more coal than any other state in the country. West Virginia has more longwall mining systems than any other state. This leads the nation in underground coal productions and sets the pace for the rest of the industry in recovery and environment protection. At the same time, West Virginia coal industry displays a sense of responsibility for health, safety and environmental that is incomparable anywhere in the world. Over the years, coal has

Of all the values plaguing Montana socially and environmentally, the issue of mining plays the greatest role in the state. Although recognized as being one of the largest pillars of Montana’s economy, mining poses a serious threat to the ecosystems surrounding it. The main problem within this industry is that after mining takes places, there are many toxic materials, like arsenic and zinc, that remain in the waste rock and tailings. These toxic substances are harmful to people as well as wildlife and once they enter the groundwater, rivers, or soil, they become a very serious health hazard. Currently, there are government regulations for all mining companies that assure none are participating in these harmful practices. Although many new companies

Mountaintop removal, is one of the most harmful things that we do to our environment. It has already destroyed more than 500 mountains which is more than 1 million acres. The coal companies dump the rubble into the neighboring valleys exposing heavy metals and other toxics that also pose threats to the region’s plants and animals. The pipelines involved in Fracking for natural gas are even more inefficient than the methods of obtaining coal. Fracking is when charges are set far underground into the hard bedrock called shale where there are pockets of burnable fuel. When the charges go off exploding these deposits of gas it then begins to seep up through the ground and pipes are set in place to try to harness and hold as much of that gas as possible but on average in that field only 15 percent or less is actually collected. The bedrock that the charges are set in are what purify the drinking water for the area in which it is located, so when Fracking takes place the 85 percent on average of uncollected, extremely toxic, gasses go straight into the soil and into the drinking water. The

For the past 40 years, mining has been completed by mountaintop removal in the Appalachia Mountains. However, this method has pros and cons to the original coal mining process that has some wonder if it is an improvement at all. The old mining method employed several thousand of men but did not destroy valuable land for plants and animals.

Mountaintop removal and valley filling is the process of mining for coal, primarily in southern Appalachia. In mountaintop removal, the tops of mountains are removed to expose the layer of coal. The earth that is removed from the mountaintop is then disposed in nearby valleys. Following the removal of the coal from the mountain, the coal is “washed”; the liquid that is left over after cleaning the coal is called coal slurry. This process of reshaping mountains and valleys has dangerous and lasting effects on the ecology and aesthetic value of the mountain. Citizens in rural Appalachia typically rely on water from small streams in order to have a clean water supply for their families. Due to the misshapen landscape caused by mountaintop removal and runoff from coal slurries, communities surrounding mountaintop removal sites and valley fill typically experience contaminated water. Even though mountaintop removal coal mining is an effective way to remove the entire amount of coal from a mountain, mountain top removal should be strictly regulated by the government because the water quality of persons in areas surrounding removal sites are being demolished and flow rates of the streams and stream ecosystems are being disturbed due to the nature of mountain top removal and valley filling. It is important to discuss the rights that local water users have in areas surrounding mountain top removal sites as well as the trade-offs that water users make in dealing with large coal

Mountaintop removal causes permanent deforestation, which can harm the habitats of endangered animals and cause global warming and erosion. Local towns have to face the many dangers and consequences that affects their community like having their drinking water being poisoned by toxic chemicals and worrying about their home being destroyed by a boulder from the blastings caused by a mountaintop removal site. Many people only realize how cheap and more efficient it is compared to other coal mining strategies and think it's safe because miners don’t have to risk going underground to mine. Everyone needs to pay attention to how much this method of mining is affecting the climate, the environment, and other people’s safety and health and not only on how it is benefitting us economically because it is doing more damage environmentally than we think it

Sulfide mining has been a highly debated topic in the norther part of our state. Companies such as PolyMet and Twin Metal have proposed sulfide mining in the area despite the publics’ opposition. Sulfide mining will permanently damage the environment around it. Although we are given the hopes of new employment opportunities the mining would be a burden to the tax payers as many companies fail to do well in the boom or bust economy associated with mining and the tax payers are left having to cover up the cleanup costs. Sulfide mining should not be allowed in the northern parts of our state as it will destroy our environment, communities and our economy.

in an effort to solve problems, which can be seen with the Clean Water Act.

Environmental problems are something which belongs to nature or known as “Mother Earth” [13]. Nature was created to help people survive from gathering foods until build a house. This phenomenon happens continuously without thinking how much damage that nature has because human’s fault. Nature gradually becomes worse and animal’s life in danger. People who are aware of the importance of nature react. Those people do several ways to save the environment. Although these efforts can return back the environment, these efforts only can be hold temporarily. This problem happens because those people who are aware of the environment only slightly; for remaining, there are people either do not know or do not care about the nature. People’s efforts