Coal Mining And Explain How Humans Affect The Lithosphere

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Humans impact the lithosphere by coal mining and mining for minerals. They also affect it by pollution, since the ground is permeable and it seeps into the lithosphere causing harm to it. On the other hand, the lithosphere has materials that humans need for survival and for some luxuries that we have made. How can we still keep the resources from the lithosphere without damaging it as much as we have. The humans need the lithosphere, so we need to either find better alternatives to the materials were using now or find a way to preserve what we have. Coal is the major thing that is mined out of the lithosphere, and is used for a lot of human activities. If we don't take care of it, we would lose the coal and the ecosystems that we would destroy …show more content…

Inadequate care and storage of the waste from the coal can affect the ecosystem around it and the creatures living there. The pollution from one coal mine can affect many places through the water and the air making it more dangerous to human …show more content…

They made laws to regulate coal consumption and to keep the environment cleaner. These laws worked until around world war two where coal was mined with very little regard for the environment. After that war was over many states in the US reinstated those laws to help preserve the environment and to keep the economy around coal more steady. Since they enforced the laws more the government made the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) which were federal laws which regulates the effects of coal mining on the environment.
The Abandoned Mine Fund was also created around the same time to was to help manage the cost for cleaning up the coal mines. This helped to clean up mines that were made from 1977 onward. It says that 35 cents of tax would go to it for each ton of surface coal mined, 10 cents for underground coal, and 10 cents for lignite mined.
Even though these laws were put in place, there are still accidents regarding coal. One incident was around April 2010, when a bulk carrier, owned by Shen Neng, ran into the great barrier reef. The carrier was said to have 65,000 tonnes (metric tons) on board when it ran into the reef. One of the fuel tanks started to leak and ended up leaking 15000 tonnes into the

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