Clean coal, the oxymoron of the decade...
Like we need to be told this isn't good? Where's the common sense???
http://www.ilovemountains.org/news/648Scientists Unveil A Mountain of Evidence Against Mountaintop Removal
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2010
Scientists Unveil A Mountain of Evidence Against Mountaintop Removal
Obama Administration Asked to Halt All New Mountaintop Removal Permits
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CONTACTS:
Sandra Diaz, Director of Development and Communications, Appalachian Voices….828-262-1500
Dr. Matthew Wasson, Director of Programs, Appalachian Voices….828-262-1500
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Just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the expansion of the largest mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia, prominent national scientists published a blockbuster study which concludes that mountaintop removal’s impacts are “pervasive and irreversible.”
Conducted by members of the National Academy of Sciences and published in the journal Science, the far-reaching study summarized dozens of pre-existing scientific papers analyzing the impacts of mountaintop removal mining, a type of surface coal mining that uses explosives to remove the tops of mountains to expose coal seams.
More at link above
Excerpt of a list of atrocities from a West Virginia article:
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/07/b...Among the specific findings:
– Burial of streams: Burial of headwater streams by valley fills causes permanent loss of ecosystems that play critical roles in ecological processes such as nutrient cycling and production of organic matter for downstream food webs;
– Downstream water quality impacts: Below valley fills in the Central Appalachians, streams are characterized by increases in pH, electrical conductivity, and total dissolved solids due to elevated concentrations of sulfate (SO4), calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate ions … We found that significant linear increases in the concentrations of metals, as well as decreases in multiple measures of biological health, were associated with increases in stream water SO4 in streams below mined sites … Recovery of biodiversity in mining waste-impacted streams has not been documented, and SO4 pollution is known to persist long after mining ceases.
– Selenium: A survey of 78 MTM/VF streams found that 73 had water concentrations greater than the 2.0p threshold for toxic bioaccumulation … In some freshwater food webs, Se has bioaccumulated to four times the toxic level; this can cause teratogenic deformities in larval fish, leave fish with Se concentrations above the threshold for reproductive failure, and expose birds to reproductive failure when they eat fish …
– Potential for human health impacts: Even after mine site reclamation (attempts to return a site to premined conditions), groundwater samples from domestic supply wells have higher levels of mine-derived chemical constituents than well water from unmined areas … Adult hospitalizations for chronic pulmonary disorders and hypertension are elevated as a function of county-level coal production, as are rates of mortality, lung cancer, and chronic heart, lung, and kidney disease.
– Mitigation effects: Many reclaimed areas show little or no growth of woody vegetation and minimal carbon storage even after 15 years … Mitigation plans generally propose creation of intermittently flowing streams off-site. Stream creation typically involves building channels with morphologies similar to unaffected streams; however, because they are on or near valley fills, the surrounding topography, vegetation, soils, hydrology, and water chemistry are fundamentally altered from the premining state … U.S. rules have considered stream creation a valid form of mitigation while acknowledging the lack of science documenting its efficacy.
Eshleman said:
Over the last 30 years, there has been a global increase in surface mining, and it is now the dominant driver of land-use change in the central Appalachian region. We now know that surface mining has extraordinary consequences for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Notwithstanding recent attempts to improve reclamation, the immense scale of mountaintop mining makes it unrealistic to think that true restoration or mitigation is possible with current techniques.
During an interview this morning, the study authors noted the Obama administration and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson have promised to have science guide their regulatory decisions. Palmer said:
It is our hope that this will provide the science that the administration needs.
More at link, including hyperlinks:
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/07/b...
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