Open-pit mine
Dig a big hole
Primary ecological effects
- Groundwater accumulates in the pit and forms a toxic ``soup''
Strip mine
Dig expansive trenches to remove overburden, then fill with loose rock in spoil banks
Primary ecological effects
- Removal of surface vegetation and soil
- Extensive and rapid erosion
Shaft/slope (underground) mine
Extract minerals underground and transport to surface
Primary ecological effects
- Risk of collapse
- Explosion (natural gas and coal)
- Leakage of toxins into groundwater
- Underground fires (coal)
- Consume up to 200 Mt coal/annum
- Release as much
CO
as all cars in US
- Also release toxic mercury, arsenic, selenium, radon, and other fumes
Burning since 1962
Centralia, Pennsylvania, or what's left of it
Placer mine
From streams and panning to water cannons
Primary ecological effects
- Extreme sedimentation (to the point of stream fill)
Mountaintop removal/mining
Literally remove the top of the mountain (up to 215 m or 715 ft.) to get at the mineral (usually coal) and fill nearby valleys (and the streams that created them) with overburden
Primary ecological effects
- Forests are clear-cut
- Toxic substances in the fill rock
- Destruction of entire stream ecosystems--900 km of streams buried in West Virginia alone
General environmental issues
- Companies rarely fund required restoration projects
- Restoration cannot reverse losses of endemic species
- Effects on human health are also irreversible
Brian M Napoletano
2011-10-10
