The American Diaster

Communities near mountaintop removal mining sites are often subject to powerful flash floods. Without trees on steep mountain and valley fill slopes, rainfall quickly becomes dangerous.

Some of the most recent flash-flooding occurred in Mingo County in southern West Virginia in May 2009. This was the 19th flood in 11 years to hit Mingo County and surrounding areas of southern West Virginia's coalfields.Killing 300 people.

Massey Energy has mountaintop mines along about five miles of Gilbert Creek. Mounts' daughter believes her damage, on Pickering Creek, came from runoff from Massey's Frasure Creek mine, which had begun work in her area. Across from Mounts'own home, a narrow gully turned into a roaring river for two days after the storm.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that iron and manganese concentrations surpass drinking water guidelines in at least 40% of wells in the Appalachian Plateau, and in about 70% of the wells near reclaimed surface coal mines of the region.

In a 2003 Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, the EPA reports that "stream chemistry monitoring efforts show significant increases in conductivity, hardness, sulfate, and selenium concentrations downstream of [mountaintop removal] operations." These contaminated headwaters are the origin of drinking water resources for millions of people in major downstream American cities.

Coal slurry, a byproduct of washing and processing coal with water and chemicals, is highly toxic and can leach into groundwater supplies. Up to sixty different chemicals are used to wash coal, not to mention the heavy metals naturally present in the coal.

In Prenter Hollow, West Virginia, over 300 residents are suing nine coal companies for water contamination from coal slurry injected in abandoned underground mine shafts. Residents believe that the contaminated water is causing major health issues sometimes causing 1,000 deaths.
In the United States today there are groups of individuals bound and determined to paint coal white. They use terms like clean coal and carbon capture like they are preaching the gospel.

Many people will say there is no such thing as clean coal, including myself... let me explain.

Clean coal, as preached by the coal industry, is a process of removing the Co2 (primary greenhouse gas) from coal-fired power plant emissions or flue gases and storing it indefinitely underground (carbon capture and storage).

Coal has a dirty legacy going back at least 100 years that has absolutely nothing to do with flue gas. I have many memories of my father and grand-father standing on a picket line sometimes for months fighting the coal industry for better working conditions and/or better benefits. Mining related illnesses like blacklung still claim lives in the coalfields today. Now with mountaintop removal becoming so dominant other illnesses plague nearby communities.

The coal industry as it relates to the health and welfare of its employees and its relationship with nearby communities is the first dirty aspect of coal.

Coal mining is the second. The mining of coal actually has a few sub-branches on the 'dirty tree'-- montaintop removal, valley fill, acid mine drainage, air pollution (coal truck traffic, coal dust, blasting particulates). Ask a coal miner coming in from work and before he showers how clean coal mining is. Ask a resident affected by one of the multitude of impacts associated with mountaintop removal (blasting, blasting particulates, cracked home foundations, illnesses, economic destruction...) how clean coal mining is.

The third dirty aspect of coal is the processing. This aspect has two main sub-branches -- coal dust, coal slurry.

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[joyangels4caylee]

Thank you Bestwayusa1, May the Lord be with you too

[bestwayusa1]

That is such a tragedy. We are spreading the word out here in Michigan. May God be with you all !!