xp - Mining Flattened Parts of Appalachia by 40 Percent, increased water pollution risk
DiscoveryNews
Mining Flattened Parts of Appalachia by 40 Percent, increased water pollution risk
Since the 1970s, mining companies have been using explosives and heavy machinery to demolish entire mountain peaks in West Virginia, Kentucky and other parts of the Appalachian region, in order to get at seams of coal that are difficult to reach with more conventional methods. Mountaintop removal mining, as the practice is called, has created jobs and income, but residents and environmental organizations say there’s been a heavy price.
In addition to destroying the natural beauty of the mountains, critics say that mountaintop removal destroyed forest ecosystems, contaminated groundwater with toxic chemicals, and caused other devastating damage.
Now, a study by Duke University researchers, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, quantifies just how much that mountaintop removal has altered central Appalachia. By their calculations, there are areas 40 percent flatter than before the practice started, and the average slope in mined areas has been reduced by more than 10 degrees. The average elevation in mined areas actually has increased by about 10 feet, because of the filling of valleys with excavated material.
If you’re an urban dweller, the effect would be comparable to taking a wrecking ball to the local skyline and knocking a story off every building.
But those startling metrics don’t fully convey the impacts. The researchers say that by demolishing mountaintops and using the crushed rock to fill valleys, the mining technique has altered the region’s geology in other ways.
More:
http://news.discovery.com/earth/coal-mining-has-flattened-appalachia-by-40-percent-160209.htm?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dnewsnewsletter
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More info on despicable mountain topping: 
ILoveMountains - http://ilovemountains.org/resources
xp Environment&Energy
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