What is the process of mountaintop mining?
“Mountaintop removal/valley fill is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal. Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.”
What type of mining is mountaintop mining?
surface coal mining
Michael Hendryx: Mountaintop removal is a form of surface coal mining. As the name suggests, it literally removes up to 800 feet off the tops of mountains to try to reach coal seams that are not accessible by other mining techniques because the terrain is too steep or the veins are too thin.
How is mountaintop removal done?
Coal companies first raze an entire mountainside, ripping trees from the ground and clearing brush with huge tractors. This debris is then set ablaze as deep holes are dug for explosives. An explosive is poured into these holes and mountaintops are literally blown apart.
What is a mountain top mine?
Mountaintop mining is a practice where the tops of mountains are removed, allowing for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require.
Which of the following best describes the process known as mountaintop removal?
Mountaintop removal refers to the process of mining at the surface of a mountain top or a mountain ridge. Any trees or plants are first removed, explosives are used to blow apart the earth and reach materials below the surface, and these materials (often coal) are then collected.
Does mining destroy mountains?
Tragically, mountaintop removal mining has already destroyed more than 500 mountains encompassing more than 1 million acres of Central and Southern Appalachia. …
What are 2 toxic chemicals that come from mountaintop removal?
3 Slurry, the residue from cleaning the coal, is impounded in ponds or injected into abandoned underground mine shafts, where it can leach potentially toxic constituents such as arsenic, lead, manganese, iron, sodium, strontium, and sulfate that ultimately may end up in groundwater.
How does mountaintop removal affect the local community?
Toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, selenium, and arsenic leach into local water supplies, poisoning drinking water. This destructive practice, known as mountaintop-removal mining, sends carcinogenic toxins like silica into the air, affecting communities for miles around.
How does mountaintop removal affect the environment?
Contaminants from mountaintop removal even poison the drinking water of downstream communities. And this form of mining makes a twofold contribution to climate change: The forests destroyed in the process no longer store carbon, and the burning of the coal that’s mined releases carbon into the atmosphere.
Where does mountaintop removal mining occur?
Mountaintop removal takes place primarily in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.
How does mountaintop removal pollute the air?
Explosives used during the mountaintop removal mining process are one of the suggested causes of increased particulate matter, a type of air pollution made up of very tiny particles that can easily be inhaled and become lodged in the lungs.
How does mountaintop mining affect the environment?
What is the process of mountaintop removal mining?
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining that involves the topographical alteration and/or removal of a summit, hill, or ridge to access buried coal seams. The MTR process involves the removal of coal seams by first fully removing the overburden lying atop them,
What kind of mining is done at the summit of a mountain?
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain.
What kind of human activity is mountaintop mining?
The human activity of mountaintop mines and valley fills has two principal human activity components: overburden and coal removal; and overburden handling.
How much of Appalachian coal comes from mountaintop removal?
Roughly 45% of central Appalachian coal is from strip mining, and almost 100% of that is mountaintop removal. Therefore, mountaintop removal coal provides roughly only 3% of our country’s electricity.