Transcript Coal Mining: The Neglected Environmental Threat

Hans Sprohge, Ph.D., CPA
Wright State University, U.S.A.
Julsuchada Sirisom, Ph.D.
Mahasarakham University, Thailand
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Coal formed from massive accumulation of dead
land-based plant life, mainly trees.
The most important element in the plant material is
carbon, which gives coal most of its energy.
When plants die, this energy is usually released as
the plants decay. The energy is locked into the coal.
Coal is classified as a nonrenewable energy source
because it takes millions of years to form.
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 Coal
is mined using surface and
underground methods depending on
depth of burial
 Surface mining is used for seams
relatively close to the surface, at depths
less than approximately 180 feet
 Underground mining is used for seams
that occur at depths of 180 to 300 feet
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2
principal methods: continuous (room
and pillar) and longwall
 Continuous mining utilizes a machine to
cut 20-to 30 foot "rooms" or work areas
into a coal seam and Some of the seam is
retained as "pillars" to support the rock
layers above the area being mined
 Continuous mining can produce as much
as five tons of coal a minute
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 Longwall
mining uses a rotating
mechanical shear that moves back and
forth across the coal seam tearing the
coal away
 The seam being mined is several
hundred feet wide
 Once the coal is removed, usually 75
percent of the coal in the deposit, the roof
is allowed to collapse in a safe manner
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a
coal seam is exposed by removing the
overlying vegetation and overburden
 5 principal methods of surface mining:
• area mining: consists of excavating large
rectangular pits
• open pit mining: the removal of overburden to
uncover the coal seam takes the shape of an
inverted cone
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• contour mining: removing overburden in a
pattern following the contours along a ridge or
around a hillside
• auger mining: horizontally into coal seams with
a mining auger
• mountaintop removal: removing entire
mountaintops to reach thin layers of valuable
low-sulfur coal seams lying underneath the
mountains
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 The
oxidation of sulfur
 The production of sulfuric acid
 Elevated concentrations of dissolved metals,
such as, iron, sulfate, and other metals
 Waste materials are piled at the surface, in
underground mining, and rain percolating
through these piles creates runoff that
pollutes local streams
 Acid mine drainage and acid rock drainage
leave the subsoil infertile
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 Mountaintop
removal breaks a forest into
many pieces
 Limit habitat for animals, plants, and leaves
 Loss of natural species biodiversity
 12-million-acre area in east Kentucky, south
West Virginia and east Tennessee has been
damaged
 By 2012 mountaintop coal mining will have
serious damaged or destroyed an area
larger than the state of Delaware
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Before
After
Source: Source: http://www.gaia-health.com/articles/000034-photos2.shtml
More than 300,000 acres of hard wood forests
have been destroyed by mountaintop removal
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 Various
federal and state laws require coal
mine reclamation (the rehabilitation of land
after cessation of coal mining operation)
• The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
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(1977)
National Historic Preservation Act (1966)
National Environmental Policy Act (1969)
Endangered Species Act (1973)
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
Clean Water Act (1977)
Clean Air Act (1990)
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 Environmental
degradation continues
after laws
 Some of reasons:
• Lax enforcement
• Loopholes
• Corporate gamesmanship
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The rate of coal mine reclamation occurring
today is shockingly low
 The destruction of all forms of habitat is
complete and permanent
 Reclamation of many mining sites re-vegetate
using native plants but not of the “same seasonal
variety”
 Frequently, mining sites are re-vegetated with
plants that are not native to the area.
 Sometimes mining sites are re-vegetated with
invasive species
 It is impossible to reclaim waterways
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 The
mining industry has been, and
continues to be, provided with economic
incentives to wreak havoc on the
environment
 From 2002 to 2008 coal mining
companies received billions of dollars in
tax breaks annually
 Benefits indirectly through the Low
Income Home Energy Assistance
Program
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 tax
credits for the production of coal coalbased synthetic fuels
 characterizing coal royalty payments as
capital gains
 exclusion from fuel excise tax
 expensing (rather than capitalizing and
amortizing) of the costs of surface stripping,
and construction of shafts and tunnels
 deductibility 10 percent of gross income
from coal production
 deductibility of reclamation and closing
costs immediately when beginning mining
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 Eliminate
direct and indirect taxpayer
subsidies of coal mining companies by
a) not adding more tax preferences that lower the
after tax cost of producing coal and
b) repealing those that are currently in effect
 Shift
cost of reclamation from the public
to the mining companies by imposing
taxes on carbon emissions, the value of
lumber destroyed, lost carbon sinks, and
lost plant and animal species
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 Implementation
of any of the above
recommendations would result in higher
coal prices
 Higher coal prices would encourage
conservation
 Unsubsidized coal prices that include the
cost of environmental remediation would
make clean renewable technologies like
wind, geothermal power and solid
biomass more cost competitive with coal
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