The Pros And Cons Of Mountaintop Removal

Roughly 68 percent of the electricity generated in the United States of America is produced by fossil fuels. That includes petroleum, natural gases and coal. Although coal contributes around 37 percent to the factor, it is by far not the cleanest of them all. Some might argue that it is good for the economy because it is cheap and it creates jobs.. But the other side of the story portrays coal mining as a process that kills thousands of coal miners a year and that it practically destroys the environment around the mining with soot and air pollution. Mining now days is a big part of urbanization; due to how cheap the process is. There are different ways that coal mining is done. Mainly mountain top removal is done but there are many other

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

Mountaintop removal can impact the local water table, it contributes to an increase in the level of birth defects and it has destroyed over 1 million acres of land. Mountaintop removal changes the quality of the local ground water that is available to a community. This is often seen in the form of an increase or decrease in the amount of minerals that are present. In turn, this can also negatively impact local wildlife, eliminate fish species, and create less animal diversity. And when it comes to the level of birth defects, very few studies have pointed out this potential link, the changes in mineral content and atmospheric quality where a mountaintop coal mine is present could also be responsible for higher levels of birth defects. If true, then is the need for cheaper, cleaner coal worth harming children? It is sad that we are so dependent on coal mining for electricity. Coal mining is a nonrenewable resource that is outdated. It produces high levels of radiation, and the coal ash that is produced during the process is a hazard and there is no way to dispose of it