Against Mountaintop Removal

Against Mountaintop Removal

 

                             

1. loss of critical forest habitat
2. widespread destruction of mountain streams
3. water contamination 
4.  Has damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 miles of streams in four central Appalachia states
5. much vegetation is cleared off mountain tops
6. acres of old-growth forest are destroyed
7. use of explosives in MTR mining sends shock waves that shake homes, crack foundations and destroy water wells

• http://www.infobarrel.com/Why_Mountain_Top_Removal_Mining_is_Bad_for_the_Environment#5Urr6olu28XOpSQo.99
• http://mountainjustice.org/facts/steps.php

advantages and disadvantages of mining

 

Advantages/Disadvantages

Underground mining- more expensive than surface mining; takes longer to get minerals out; uses less blasting and drilling, and sends less miners underground;

Drift mining- less energy is required to transport miners and heavy equipment, safer transportation because the use of horizontal direction, cheaper and safer than shaft mining.

Shaft mining- is the deepest underground mining; has a vertical manshaft; safer when closing the mine. 

Room and pillar mining- uses pillars of coal to hold up the roof; pillars are mined when the mine begins closing; careful

Continuous mining- uses continuous mining machine to cut coal from walls; companies choose to use this method because they believe it is best.

Long wall mining- uses a machine call continuous miner to slice layer of coal or minerals from the walls, highly efficient.

Surface mining- mining minerals, gemstones, and rocks that are close to the surface; cheaper, can recover more of the resource; is safer and can use larger-scale mining equipment offering higher production rates; its high visibility, the large-scale surface disturbance and the limited economic depth to which mining can take place.

Strip mining- ends up hurting the area around the mine

Mountaintop mining- makes huge changes in the land that’s mined and the area around it; top of the mountain, the water flow, and the environment of and around the mountain are destroyed; causes problems in water supply, water quality, and watersheds

 

 

surface mining

Surface Mining

http://www.enviropaedia.com/topic/default.php?topic_id=223

1.      Strip mining- used when coal is near the surface or overburden is unstable; as mining process, the overburden is placed in the previous mine cavity.

2.      Contour mining- a type of strip mining; follows contour of a hill leaving a terrace in mountainside.

 

 

 

 

3.       Mountaintop mining- tops of hills are removed to access horizontal coal seams; overburden is pushing to areas between high elevations; follows reclamation; most controversial mining method.

 

 

underground mining

Underground Mining

1.      Drift mining- is possible where the coal steam intersects with the surface; mine enters the seam in a horizontal direction following the coal.

 

2.       Shaft mining- is a common method; accessing coal seam in which elevators provide access to the mines; commonly deeper than 1000 feet below the surface.

 

 

3.      Room and pillar mining- nearly half of the coal is left behind to support the roof; pillars “squeeze” putting pressure of adjacent pillars leading to roofs collapse.

 

 

4.       Continuous mining- continuous mining machines can be used with drift or room and pillar mines.; one miner can operate a continuous miner to a rotating steel drum with tungsten carbide teeth to mine 5 tons of coal per minute; some varieties of continuous mining machines have been in use since the 1940s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.      Long wall mining- highly efficient; huge mining machines support the roof as it also removes coal; when coal is fully removed, the machine is removed and the roof collapses; highly productive underground coal mining technique

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-longwall-mining.htm

 

coal part one

Coal first started forming about three hundred million years ago from the remains of swamps. Dead plants would sink to the bottom and then be covered by dirt and mud. Then instead of rotting it formed peat. Peat is like a mossy looking substance. This occurred because there was no oxygen under the water and mud. In order for organic objects to rot there needs to be oxygen. Sediment later covered and compressed the peat. Then as time progressed with lots of pressure coal is formed. The order that coal is formed is peat (precursor), then lignite (brown coal), bituminous coal (black coal), and finally the best kind of coal anthracite coal (hard coal). Some companies will turn the coal into coke. But it’s not the kind of coke that is like a drink or drugs. This is like pebbles of coal.

           

                Peat is the beginning stage of the coal process. This is created from left over plants that have fallen into bogs and muskegs. The lack of oxygen keeps it from decaying and this is a huge contributor to how it’s made. Peat also was used as a heat source by people in rural Northern Europe. Peat doesn’t burn as hot as coal does. Lignite also known as brown coal is the next stage of the coal process. Normally it can be found in Alaska and some western states. It has a pretty low carbon concentration (30%) and low heat value. This is used for electric generation. Bituminous coal is the next on the list. It’s the most common form of coal found. It’s used in the steel industry as its coked form. Its carbon value is 45-85% and conducts heat pretty well. Last but not least is the best kind of coal and that is anthracite coal. It comes from metamorphic bituminous coal. It has the highest carbon content which is 85-95% and conducts heat the best. When burned it is nearly smokeless and is found in northern Pennsylvania.

data collected

This is the exel file of data that was collected by Mr. Sharpe's classes.

what will happen in the future when aerosols attack

Most aerosols naturally occur in the atmosphere. Only about ten percent are man made. Scientist dont know if the atmospheic aerosols are increasing or anything. This is most likly because there isnt enough data on whether it is warming or cooling the planet. We have no idea if havng so much aerosols in the atmosphere is a good thing or a bad thing.