Impacts of Mountaintop Removal

Evidence and Resources Regarding Impacts of MTR and Coal Use Cycle

Resources regarding impacts of mountaintop removal and coal use.

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Mountaintop removal / valley fill coal mining poisoning waterways and harming human health

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Environmental Protection Agency, “Final Decision of the Environmental Protection Agency Pursuant to Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act Concerning the Spruce No 1 Mine, Logan County, WV” http://wvgazette.com/static/coal%20tattoo/sprucefinalveto.pdf
  • Osha, Jen, “Power-Knowledge to Move Mountains:  Subaltern Discourses of MTR in Coal River Valley, WV,” Dissertation, WVU, (2010) http://hdl.handle.net/10450/11747
  • Palmer, M., Bernhardt, E., Schlesinger, W., Eshleman, K., Foufoula-Georgius, E.,
    Hendryx, M., Lemly, A., Likens, G., Loucks, O., Power, M., White, P., and P.
    Wilcock. 2010.   “Mountaintop Mining Consequences.”  Science8 January 2010:
    Vol. 327. no. 5962.
  • “EPA Petitioned to Revoke West Virginia's Clean Water Authority, ”http://www.appalachian-center.org/media/2009/06_22.html

Blasting damage from mountaintop removal

 

Communities driven to extinction by mountaintop removal

  • Aurora Lights.  2009.  “A Community and Strip-Mining,” Journey Up Coal
    River.  http://auroralights.org/map_project/theme.php?theme=crm&article=4. 
    Accessed 1/17/11.
  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Hufford, Mary. “Weathering the Storm: Cultural Survival in an Appalachian Valley.” In Ayers et al. An Appalachian Tragedy: Air Pollution and Tree Death in the Eastern United States
  • Loeb, Penny.  2003.  “The Coalfield Communities of Southern West Virginia.”  http://www.wvcoalfield.com/
  • Osha, Jen, “Power-Knowledge to Move Mountains:  Subaltern Discourses of MTR in Coal River Valley, WV,” Dissertation, WVU, (2010) http://hdl.handle.net/10450/11747

 

Deforestation from mountaintop removal

Destruction of valuable ecosystem services from mountaintop removal

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Costanza et al.  “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital.”  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/PROGRAMS/wr/hq/pdf/naturepaper.pdf
  • Hufford, Mary. “Tending the Commons: Ramp Patches, Ramp Suppers and the Integrity of  ‘The Mountains’” Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay4a.html
  • Hufford, Mary. “American Ginseng and the Idea of the Commons.” Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay1a.html
  • Meyer, J.L., D. L. Strayer, J. B. Wallace, S. L. Eggert, G. S. Helfman, and N.E. Leonard. 2007. The contribution of headwater streams to biodiversity in river networks. K. American Water Resources Association 43: 86-103.
  • Valuing Ecosystem Services.”  http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8381

Increased flooding from mountaintop removal and valley fills

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Ferrari, J., Lookingbill, T., McCormick, B., Townsend, P., and K. N. Eshleman.  “Surface mining and reclamation effects on flood response of watersheds in the central Appalachian Plateau region.”  Water Resources Research, Vol. 45.  W04407.
  • Loeb, Penny.  2003.  “The Coalfield Communities of Southern West Virginia.”  http://www.wvcoalfield.com/
  • McCormick, B. C., Eshleman, K. N., Griffith, J.L., and P. A. Townsend.  2009.  “Detection of flooding responses at the river basin scale enhanced by land use change.”  Water Resources Reseatch, Vol 45, W08401.
  • Negley, T. and K. Eshleman.  2006.  “Comparison of stormflow responses of surface-
    mined and forested watersheds in the Appalachian Mountains, USA.” Hydrological Processes. Vol. 20,16, published Online: 3 Apr 2006.
  • Osha, Jen, “Power-Knowledge to Move Mountains:  Subaltern Discourses of MTR in Coal River Valley, WV,” Dissertation, WVU, (2010) http://hdl.handle.net/10450/11747

 

Loss of heritage / culture from mountaintop removal

 

 

 

Some Other Impacts of the Coal-Use Cycle:

 

Health impacts

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Duhigg, C. "Clean Water Laws are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering" The New York Times online (accessed 4/8/2009).
  • Michael Hendryx and Melissa M. Ahern, “Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost,” Public Health Reports, 124 (2009): 541-550.
  • Michael Hendryx and Melissa Ahern, “Relations between health indicators and residential proximity to coal mining in West Virginia,”Am J Public Health.2008, 98(4):669-71. Epub 2008 Feb 28.
  • Michael Hendryx, Melissa Ahern, and Timothy Nurkiewicz, “Hospitalization Patterns Associated with Appalachian Coal Mining,” Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 70 (2007): 2064–2070.
  • Michael Hendryx, “Mortality Rates in Appalachian Coal Mining Counties: 24 Years Behind the Nation,” Environmental Justice, March 2008, 1(1): 5-11.
  • Hendryx, Michael, Fedorko, Evan J., Halverson, Joel. "Pollution Sources and Mortality Rates Across Rural-Urban Areas in the United States." Journal of Rural Health, IN PRESS.
  • Hendryx, M., Fedorko, E., and Anesetti-Rothermel, A. 2010. “A GIS Analysis of Cancer Mortality and Population  Exposure to Coal Mining Activities in West Virginia.” Geospatial Health, Volume 4 (2).
  • Nathaniel P. Hitt and Michael Hendryx, “Ecological Integrity of Streams Related to Human Cancer,” EcoHealth, 7 (2010): 91-104.
  • Palmer, M., Bernhardt, E., Schlesinger, W., Eshleman, K., Foufoula-Georgius, E.,
    Hendryx, M., Lemly, A., Likens, G., Loucks, O., Power, M., White, P., and P.
    Wilcock. 2010.   “Mountaintop Mining Consequences.”  Science8 January 2010:
    Vol. 327. no. 5962.
  • “Studies Link Poor Health to Mining Practices but Little is Being Done.”  http://www.wvoter-owned.org/reports/health_in_coalfields.pdf

 

Acid mine drainage

 

Acid mine pools

 

Acid rain

 

Asthma

 

Coal ash (power plant waste) poisoning water and harming human health

  • Stant, Jeff.  2010.  “In Harm’s Way:  lack of Federal Coal Ash Regulations Endangers Americans and their Environment,” Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and Sierra Club, August 26, 2010.
  • Stant, Jeff.  2010.  “Out of Control:  Mounting Damages from Coal Ash Waste Sites.”  http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/documents/OutofContro...
  • Dewan, Shaila.  “Tennessee Ash Flood Larger Than Initial Estimate.”  The New York Times.   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/27sludge.html?
  • US EPA.  2009.  “TVA Kingston Fly Ash Release, Lab Analytical Results for
    Surface Water Samples,” January 1, 2009.
  • US EPA.  2007.  “Coal Combustion Waste Damage Case Assessments”, July 9, 2007.

 

Coal dust causing health problems for residents

  • Aneja, Viney P.  2009.  “Characterization of Particulate Matter (PM10) in Roda, Virginia,” Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. 

 

Coal sludge impoundments endangering communities

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Osha, Jen, “Power-Knowledge to Move Mountains:  Subaltern Discourses of MTR in Coal River Valley, WV,” Dissertation, WVU, (2010) http://hdl.handle.net/10450/11747

 

Coal slurry injections poisoning water and harming human health

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).

 

Dangerous Traffic and Roads

 

Decreased quality of life for children

  • Osha, Jen, “Power-Knowledge to Move Mountains:  Subaltern Discourses of MTR in Coal River Valley, WV,” Dissertation, WVU, (2010) http://hdl.handle.net/10450/11747

 

Disillusionment of citizens with the democratic process

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Johanna Marie Hass, 2008. “Law and Property in the Mountains: A Political Economy of Resource Land in the Appalachian Coalfields.” Dissertation, The Ohio State University.
  • Mary Hufford, Waging Democracy in the Kingdom of Coal: OVEC and the Struggle for Social and Environmental Justice in the Central Appalachian Coalfields  Center for Folklore and Ethnography, University of Pennsylvania.http://www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/center/waging_democracy2.pdf
  • Mary Hufford, 2002. “Interrupting the Monologue: Folklore, Ethnography and Critical Regionalism.” Journal of Appalachian Studies   8: 62-78 http://www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/faculty/mhufford/Interrupting.pdf
  •  “Studies Link Poor Health to Mining Practices but Little is Being Done.”  http://www.wvoter-owned.org/reports/health_in_coalfields.pdf
  • OVEC.  2004.  “The Social and Cultural Effects of Mountaintop Removal / Valley Fill Coal Mining.”  Comments on the Draft EIS on MTR/VF. http://www.ohvec.org/issues/mountaintop_removal/articles/EIS_social_cultural.pdf

 

Loss of Wildlife Habitat

  • Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: the Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, WVU Press (2007).
  • Osha, Jen, “Power-Knowledge to Move Mountains:  Subaltern Discourses of MTR in Coal River Valley, WV,” Dissertation, WVU, (2010) http://hdl.handle.net/10450/11747

 

Mercury poisoning water ways and harming unborn children and human health

 

Premature deaths (tens of thousands) each year to coal-fired power plant pollution

 

Subsidence of homes, farmland, streams, lakes and sometimes roads due to longwall mining

 

Subsidies and tax breaks costing taxpayers billions of dollars

 

Please email Jen Osha with corrections, additional impacts, or a new resource.