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Advantages and disadvantages of mountain removal
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Mountaintop removal, or Mountaintop Mining, is a criticized mining technique that mainly occurs in West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. It is a form of surface mining, that is very different from other surface techniques, as it uses very strong and powerful explosives. Mountaintop Mining is the process of blowing the tops off mountains in order to extract the coal inside. This mining process is criticized as coal companies use strong explosives such as dynamite, in order to blow open mountains for coal. Many groups and nature organizations have fought against this technique as it ruins and destroys the environment.
As criticized as this technique may be, there are a few benefits, as there are hazards, to this powerful mining process as well.
The Making of a Hardrock Miner written by Stephen M. Voynick, describes his own personal experiences as a hardrock miner in four different underground mines in the western United States, the Climax molybdenum mine in Colorado, Hecla Lakeshore Project a copper mine in Arizona, and two uranium mines in Wyoming. Rather than a book telling of the fortunes gained and lost, this book was about the relationships gained, but then also lost through mining. Stephen M. Voynick’s direct words and simple writing style provided a book that was an easy read and educational about mine work and safety.
The tar creek mining site originally was owned by a Native American tribe, the Quapaw. The Quapaw wanted to keep these lands, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs deemed members opposing a transaction to mining companies “incompetent” (1). In such a case the business could continue and the Bureau of Indian Affairs sold the lands to mining companies. In essence these lands were stolen from the Quapaw because they were ripe for mining. These mines were then used from approximately 1891 to 1970. In the 79 years the mines were open 1.7 million metric tons (~3.75 billion pounds) of lead and 8.8 million metric tons (~19.4 billion pounds) of zinc were withdrawn from the mine (2). The entire area around Tar Creek is known as the tri-state mining area. This tri-state area was a massive source of metals. This area accounted for 35% of the all worldwide metal for a decade. It also provided the majority of metals the United States used in World wars I and II (3).
Imagine a scenic, wild landscape with animals that roam freely, cascading waterfalls, and mountains that seem to scrape the pale blue sky. This is what one thinks when first hearing the name Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, the reality is completely opposite. Yosemite is now under a federally regulated Class 1 area under the Clean Air Act, which is equivalent to the pollution of Los Angeles (“National Parks Service”). It is a sad comparison to the past John Muir, who first documented Yosemite Valley, to today’s reality. The condition of Yosemite National Park should be introduced to the American public in order to protect its historic beauty and significance, eliminate current pollution, and prevent future repercussions.
By now, many Americans have been made aware of the construction of the Keystone Pipeline XL. It has been seven years since the pipeline was first proposed by the TransCanada Corporation with the intent to “allow crude oil from Canadian oil sands to reach U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast” (Mantel par. 2 on Chronology timeline). Some Americans are in favor of the construction of the Keystone Pipeline XL and others are strongly opposed to it. On Feb. 17, 2013, thousands of protestors gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in the hopes that President Barack Obama would reject the construction of the $53 billion oil pipeline (Snyder par. 1). The rally attracted 35,000 people making it the largest climate-change protest in U.S. history,
Every year, over nine million hikers and adventure seekers travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park making it the most visited national park in the United States. There are abundant reasons for this, but many popular reasons include over 150 hiking trails extending over 850 miles, a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, sightseeing, fishing, horseback riding, and bicycling. The park houses roughly ten thousand species of plants and animals with an estimated 90,000 undocumented species likely possible to be present. It is clear why there was a pressing interest in making all this land into a national park. My research was started by asking the question; how did the transformation of tourism due to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park affect surrounding cities such as Gatlinburg and Sevier County, and in return, its effect on the popularity of the park?
The La Brea Tar Pits are located in Los Angeles california. It is basicly a fossil excavation site. I will write about the pros and cons of going to the La Brea Tar pits.
The Mountaintop is a unique one act play based on Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night before he was assassinated. The entire play takes place in a single setting, room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. The production brings an interesting perspective into play by introducing a female supporting act that at first seemed to represent one of King’s infamous mistresses, but turned out to be an angel who was sent to take King up to heaven. The play covers many aspects of King’s life and attempts to show him on a more personal level. The main theme of the play seemed to be based around humanizing King, showing elements of his life many people didn’t know about. Overall the play had good composition, many historical references, and quality acting.
The uprising of the PolyMet Copper Mine in Minnesota has brought many different debates and outcomes. The copper and nickel mine is being proposed to be built in northeastern Minnesota at Superior National Forest. Their plan is to build an open pit copper mine in this national forest, which they have mineral rights to. With this project come many advantages and disadvantages to the digging and mining of this land.
umans generate millions of tons of waste which goes to who knows where. In 2013, the United States alone accumulated 254-million tons of trash. (EPA, 2013) Unfortunately, this massive amount of garbage does not just go away. Instead, it goes somewhere else. Many developed countries, such as the European Union, resort to “environmental dumping”. This is when trash from a developed country is literally dumped onto the territory of undeveloped countries, like Africa. Although there are agreements between countries, illegal dumping still occurs. (Syeda et al., 2013)
Snow plowing isn't the only way to remove snow or ice from the road. As the trusted snow plow seller in Rochester, NY, Townline Equipment Sales knows what does and doesn't work. Not only do they offer the best new and used snow plows, they also sell salt and sand spreaders for snow & ice removal purposes.
Open pit mining is the technique of mining a nearby surface deposit by using a large pit. Open pit mines contain “benches” which act as levels for the mine. Materials are then extracted from bench faces. The size and the depth of the open pit mine is typically based on the costs. The issue with open pit mining is how it causes massive negative effects. For example, the tremendous amount of space it requires ruins the landscape
Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. Some examples of minerals in the home include the telephone which is made from as many as 42 different minerals, including aluminum, beryllium, coal, copper, gold, iron, silver, and talc. A television requires over 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a single personal computer. Without boron, copper, gold and quartz, your digital alarm clock would not work. Every American uses an average 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, which is higher than all other countries with the exception of Japan, which is a staggering figure representative of our dependence and need for mined minerals. Coal makes up more than half of nation’s electricity, and will continue to be the largest electrical supplier into 2020 & accounting for some 95 percent of the nation's fossil energy reserves – nine of every ten short-tons of coal mined in the United States is used for electricity generation. As the population of the world grows more mineral resources must be exploited through mining in order to support the rising demand for such products. Though it may present a hazard to the environment and those physically located nears the mines, the materials extracted from mines...
Burning and mining coal for fuel is harmful to the environment but because how cheap and easy it is to find many people are unwilling to give it up as a fuel source. One of the problems with coal is that they are limited and are non-renewable so once it has been used we won’t be able to use it again.
According to the World Coal Association, more than 6,185 million tons of hard coal was mined from coal mines around the world as of 2012. Coal mines use surface mining for coal deposits buried less than 200 feet underground. In this type of mining, giant machines remove top-soil and layers of rock to expose large beds of coal. After coal extraction, the topsoil is replaced so that the area can be reused for croplands, wildlife habitats, recreation or offices. Underground mining is another method of coal extraction that involves extracting coal that is buried several hundred feet below the surface. In underground mining, miners use elevators to travel deep into line shafts where they use machines that dig out the coal.
Left behind are tailings, which are large piles of crushed rock left over when minerals have been extracted from rocks that once contained them. These tailings are then left prone to wind dispersion and water erosion. This wind dispersion occurs since the sand-like tailings are easily swept up by the atmosphere by wind and spread throughout the environment as dust particles. Figure 1 shows the wind erosion of a mine tailings pile being blow up into the air, creating dust. These tailings contain metal contaminants like arsenic, lead, and cadmium, which creates a problem for the environment and they can persist for decades due to the low pH levels and can cause problems in soil stabilization (arizona.edu, 2008).