Mountaintop Removal 101 1: What is mountaintop removal?

Mountaintop removal is a destructive form of extracting coal that removes hundreds of vertical feet of a mountain using heavy explosives to access thin seams of coal underneath. 2: How does each of the following affect the environment: Clearing: topsoil and vegetation is removed which hold no more food or shelter for animals. Blasting: removes 600 feet+ of elevation affecting the faults and rocks. Explosives affect with side effects on animal or plant growth. Digging: Draglines can ruin the habitat and soil of the site, not allowing growth or homes. Dumping Waste: The valley fills can leak waste into the ground, contaminating ground water. Processing: coal slurry contains toxic chemicals can leak into ground and cause defects in growth or abnormalities in nearby organisms Reclaimation: the forest or site is ruined until it can regrow back in years due to little economic development and little work for the land. 3: Where is mountaintop removal happening? It happens in the eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee. 4: What can be done to stop mountaintop removal? The loophole in the Clean Water Act should be gone in order to stop. 5: What agencies are involved in regulating mountaintop removal? The agencies are the Presidents Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of the Interior. 6: What is one reason why we dont need to use this type of process? This method only provides 4.5% of electricity in the U.S..

Economic Impacts of Mountaintop Removal 7: Summarize the economic impacts of mountaintop removal. The mountaintop removal industry replaces man power with machines, with only a few thousand of jobs for the employed. It creates barriers of economic development from the data surrounding the Appalachia economic distress. Decreasing production would only decrease by 15%, which is little to impact on the coal prices. The central Appalachian coal will be exhausted in 20 years, yet the prices still rise. The number of coal mining jobs will decrease continuously, so there will need to be a new blueprint. Ecological Impacts of Mountaintop Removal 8: Summarize the ecological impacts of mountaintop removal. The water flowing down the mountain contains sulfate and selenium, polluting the water. The forests surrounding the sites are removed and not reforested. The biodiversity of the region of coal mining is great. Howver, birds are declining by the removal of the forests. Fish population are experiencing abnormalities due to water content. Indicator species such as the mayfly have been lost, due to the mountain top removal effects. Community Impacts of Mountaintop Removal 9: How does mountaintop removal affect the local community? The general health of residents is considered one of the unhealthiest in the U.S. There are increased rates of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The contaminated drinking water from the mountain contains chemicals such as sulfate and selenium in large concentrations. The blasting and flylock causes damage to homes and even death from the dust and rock in the communities. Flooding is not stopped and as caused damage to the communities due to less surface and greater runoff. Coal sludge that can leak can kill life from a very far distance. The mountaintop removal

companies do not care for the companies as they are willing to place a site minutes away from schools. Governments depend on the revenue from the coal mining, and therefore do not do much to protect the land or go against the companies.