Mountaintop Removal Mining in West Virginia
One of the most frequently talked about and discussed ethical issues, that I have heard a lot about since moving and living in the state of West Virginia for over a year, is about Mountain top removal mining. Mountain top removal poses two ethical questions, the environmental hazards of mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia? And the economical benefits and resources it brings to the state? What is right and what is wrong; an answer or a problem?
In order to find the benefits and hazards of mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia, I used the various resources and gathered information from both sides of the questions posed, including economical benefits such as earnings, and environmental hazards such as ongoing experiments to clean up acid mine drainage. And some opinions written and expressed in newspaper articles and magazines.
Both the National Mining Associations, U.S News, Office of Surface Mining have studied environmental and economical issues and numerous newspaper articles found on the subject. Here is a brief overview on what mountaintop removal is. Mountaintop removal is a type of surface mining that has been granted a variance of approximate original contour and extracts an entire coal seam or seams running through the upper fraction of a mountain, ridge, or hill. The coal must be extracted by removing all the overburden [topsoil] and by creating a level plateau or supporting certain post-mining land uses.
In the beginng of try to answer the ethical question of was mountaintop removal mining right or wrong for West Virginia, I decided to look at the environmental hazards first, exploring all the possible...
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...nd income; however, the industry is starting to devrease causing people to lose their jobs.
In 1948, a record of "125,000" West Virginia miners were employed. The picture looks different now however. Even though more coal is being mined than ever before in this state, the total number of miners employed is less than "19,000". The decrease in jobs have been blamed on technology.
After all was said and done, and reviwing both the environmental and economical effects of mountaintop removal mining, and trying to come to one answer to say one was right and one was wrong, and one is a problem and one was not. I could not, depending on who you talk to, and who benefits from it one side will say it is good and will say it is wrong. I don't think anyone or anybody will agree on one way or one solution which will make mountaintop mining a ethical question for along time.
It is a drastic procedure, and has gained quite a bit of unwanted attention in the past few years. Many groups have come together to ban against mountain top removal due to the effects it has on the environment and towns that they are located in. Not everything associated with this mining practice is necessarily bad though. There are in fact positive characteristics to mountaintop removal. When mountaintop removal happens in a community it creates jobs for that community and other towns/cities around the process. Mountain top removal allows for infrastructure development. Once a mountaintop has been removed, it becomes a viable piece of land for development. In places where mountaintop mining has been successfully completed, the land has been transformed into golf courses, airports, highway interchanges, and even shopping
Lee, Dwight R. ?To Drill or Not to Drill: Let the Environmentalists Decide.? The Independent Review. Fall 2001.
I oppose the development of the Chu molybdenum mine because its negative effects extend beyond the site. This mine will affect the quality of life of the residents of Vanderhoof adversely by reducing air and water quality, food sources and revenue. Vanderhoof is a small, geographic centre that supplies food and mineral resources to neighboring cities (BCC, 2009) hence, many of its residents, tourists and neighbors will be directly affected by this project.
Instead of starting with ancient civilizations from the past, Diamond starts off by talking about present day Montana to give people an idea that there truly are many environmental problems affecting the world today. The Bitterroot Valley presents a microcosm of the environmental problems plaguing the rest of the United States: increasing population, immigration, increasing scarcity and decreasing quality of water, locally and seasonally poor air quality, toxic wastes, heightened
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.
Nuclear waste has a reputation for making law makers and the public uneasy, thus it is difficult to find a site for nuclear waste disposal units. However, creating such sites is necessary to allow nuclear energy to the electricity production forefront in America. In the search for a waste disposal location, companies have been turning toward Native American reservations as the final resting places of the radioactive waste. Multiple tribes have quickly denied companies access to their land, but others have taken advantage of the potentially prosperous opportunity. One of the first tribes to decline a waste site was the Navajos, for the nuclear industry’s destruction of their land was still fresh in their minds. It is true that nuclear waste disposal is a theoretically dangerous venture, yet it also contains many potential benefits. Siting a nuclear waste unit on the Navajo reservation would benefit the country and the Navajos, but the idea is meet with reluctance because of the suspected costs to the Navajo people, the environment as a whole, and the Navajo’s land.
...y question, what good is a profession that destroys your home and your body? While environmental groups make the protection of people and the environment of the Appalachian region top priority, the mining companies focus on acting cheaply, not responsibly. And the policy government keeps their heads in the sand when it comes to this issue because they seek benefits of steady jobs and tax revenue of coal mining instead of seeking to guarantee clean water for Appalachians.
While reading the class textbook in week seven, I had the interest to learn more about Brownfields briefly discussed. So, I utilized the week’s forum to learn in details that brownfields are not just unproductive, contaminated and abandon sites that have negative health consequences on the environments. Rather, brownfields as an author stated a land of opportunity. For instances, former use automobile lumber storage, railroads station, salvage yards and industrial landfill. However, brownfields turn out to have success stories. An article I read by Felten Jennifer stated that to redevelop and remove contamination of such sites, Environmental Protection Agency developed a program in 1995. Also, Brownfield Legislation bill was passed to support
This research project was a collaboration between WVU Extension Service in Kanawha County and the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.
Though Appalachian Mountains is a good place to live, there could be some work done. The jobs in coal mining are disappearing by the day and more people going into poverty. I don’t believe coal-mining should be shut down because coal produces steel, electricity, cement, thermal heat for heating, and even transportation. The coal-mining jobs is what keeps people living in the central part of the Appalachian Mountains. Allowing and instead of hurting the fossil-fuel driven jobs would help the people here. People would buy more land here, more steel would be produced, and power bills would be cheaper because of coal being produced.
It is recognized that in a time when the Internet and technology have taken over; mining still employees and provides livelihood to a vase number of people. However, the process of mining affects our health and our environment. According to Wikipedia, “The environmental impact of mining include erosion , formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining proces...
The worst imaginable environmental catastrophe that could occur in Maryland has just become a reality. The lifeblood of Southern Maryland's Watermen has been forever affected. The ecosystems of the Patuxtent River and Chesapeake Bay have been irreversibly contaminated. The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Accidents have affected the world ecosystems; but the Chalk Point oil spill has reached us here in Southern Maryland. The ethical considerations with generating electricity from fossil fuels, specifically oil, has a profound impact on us all. We all use electricity to make our lives easier and more productive. By using this electricity have we given our permission for the oil companies free reign in order to provide us with the service we demand?? Are we just as responsible for the oil spill as the corporate leaders who run the companies? As citizens we are in a position to develop and enforce regulations to protect ourselves. Do we also protect the environment; or is the environment just something for us to use? These and many other moral dilemmas exist for modern man.
...ch supplies. In the article Environmental Racism, Tribal Sovereignty and Nuclear Waste, Bullcreek, one of the Indians who lives on Utah reservation said, "The real issue is not the money. The real issue is who we are as Native Americans and what we believe in. If we accept these wastes, we're going to lose our tradition." The government should not intrude on the Native Americans’ traditions and culture by placing waste or hazardous facilities on or near their reservations. These government agencies and organizations do not know what their traditions are; however, in Environmental Justice in Indian Country, it is acknowledged that the first step to creating healthier living conditions is knowing what is relevant to the community. Assessments are regularly done without consulting the community about what is important and what risks or impacts need to be assessed.
Mountain top removal mining has been in practice since the 1960’s. In order to reach the coal around 400 to 500 feet of the mountain top is blasted off to expose the seam. All the excess material from blasting and bulldozing is piled up in the surrounding valleys and streams. The landscape is a pitiful sight resembling a moonscape. There are no trees, no wildlife, just rocks, dirt and mud. However, in 1983 the Federal Government took notice of environmentalist’s actions aga...
Mine Tailings. (2008). The University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (SBRP). Retrieved February 12, 2011, from http://superfund.pharmacy.arizona.edu/Mine_Tailings.php