Deforestation
Myth
- An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study estimates that by 2012, mountaintop removal projects in Appalachia will have destroyed or seriously damaged an area larger than Delaware (1,592,960 acres) and buried more than 1,000 miles of mountain streams.
- John McQuaid in Yale Environmental May 2009.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that by 2013 a forested area the size of Delaware will have been destroyed and that more than 1200 miles of streams have already been severely damaged.
- John McQuaid in Yale Environmental July 2009.
- The estimated scale of deforestation from existing Appalachian surface mining operations is equivalent in size to the state of Delaware.
- EPA Guidance Memorandum issued on April 1, 2010.
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Myth Busted!
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Draft and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), referenced above, involved a study area of approximately 12 million acres of land in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, western Virginia, and eastern Tennessee. The impacts to forest and forest soils that occurred for the 10-year period from 1992 – 2002 were subsequently projected as anticipated forest disturbance over the following 10 years (2003 – 2013).
The draft PEIS projected an estimated impact to the forest environment (vegetation and soils) in the study area from surface mining from 1992 – 2002 at 380,547 acres, or 3.4 percent of the forest area that existed in 1992. So for the entire 20-year period from 1992 to 2013, the estimated (projected) impact in the study area would be 761,094 acres, or 6.8 percent of the forest in the study area that existed in 1992, which is nowhere near the size of the state of Delaware.
These projections are based on the assumption that, if no reforestation of mined sites ever occurred, a loss of forest acreage similar to the 10 years (1992 – 2002) of active permits would occur over the following 10 years. This is a worst case projection or overestimate of impacts to forest cover in the EIS study area because:
- The data are projected under the assumption that the entire area within the permit boundary would be disturbed (rarely if ever the case), and
- The data does not include areas where forest regeneration is occurring on mine sites (i.e., the amount of natural succession or managed forestry would decrease the affected acreage).
In fact, surface mining permit requirements mandate strict reclamation guidelines which include backfilling, grading, sediment controls, and vegetation (tree planting) on all disturbed acreage. It is also noted in the Final PEIS that better reclamation techniques for growing trees on mined lands now exist and are being promoted (such as through the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative).
The fact is that the region in general was almost totally deforested in the early 1900s through widespread clear-cut timbering, and today’s regionally expansive forests represent regrowth from that previous deforestation (along with subsequent timbering operations).
The “size of Delaware” allegation is also misleading in that it conjures an image of a continuous area of deforestation. The fact, instead, is that the areas of temporary deforestation occur as isolated “islands” within a “sea” of forest. Wildlife habitat is improved, and wildlife diversity is improved, by the diversity of habitat created by reclaimed mine sites within the overall extensive forest.
Covering of Drainages
Myth
- Valley fills permanently bury thousands of feet of headwater streams beneath millions of tons of mining waste.
- Since 1985, over 1200 miles of stream have been buried under valley fills.
- “Mining Agency Buries Streams and Science” - Union of Concerned Scientists
- Over the past two decades, mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has buried more than 1,000 miles of streams.
- “Mountaintop Mining Poisons Fish” - Science Daily, February 2010
- Since 1992, nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been filled at a rate of 120 miles per year by surface mining practices.
- EPA Guidance Memorandum issued on April 1, 2010
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Myth Busted!
The Final PEIS states that approximately 1,200 miles of headwater streams, or 2 percent of the approximately 59,000 miles of perennial, intermittent and ephemeral streams in the study area, were directly impacted by MTM/VF features including coal removal areas, valley fills, roads, and ponds between 1992 and 2002. An estimated 724 stream miles, or 1.2 percent of streams, were covered by valley fills from 1985 to 2001.
“Valley fills” are placed in the uppermost heads of hollows at and below the mined horizon. Utilization of fills is necessary because rock that has been broken and removed in order to extract coal cannot be placed back into the same area that it originally occupied, because it is less compact than it was in the pre-mining state (typical soil expansion factor is around 20 to 25 percent).
These headwater-area fills are most commonly placed in normally-dry drainage channels that lie upslope of the ever-flowing segments of streams. These drainages are termed ephemeral because of their temporary flows that occur only in response to rainfall or snowmelt. Depending upon site-specific terrain, relative elevations, and fill size requirements, fills are sometimes expanded into intermittent drainages, which flow seasonally but not year-around. Only rarely, and with intensive compensatory requirements, are fills placed over perennial streams.
Fills are engineered structures designed to safely store the broken rock material in a manner that will prevent slope failures. It is the same concept and practice that is used in highway construction in rugged terrain, or indeed in any project involving substantial excavation in rugged terrain.
The draft PEIS states that recent changes in the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) and Clean Water Act (CWA) programs have resulted in reduction in size and number of fills. Those changes would have resulted in a corresponding reduction in the number of acres of forest and forest soils impacted by mountaintop mining/valley fills (MTM/VF). When the qualification statements and recent trend data are considered in totality, it is likely that the forest and forest soil impact predictions for the next 10-year period will be less than the projected 3.4 percent of the forest in the study area.
Blasting and Extent of Removal
Myth
Explosives are used to blast the entire top of the mountain or ridge to expose and mine one or more coal seams. As much as 300 vertical meters (1,000 feet) of overburden are removed. |
Myth Busted!Blasting on surface mine sites is a highly regulated part of the mining process. Mining companies that use explosives must be certified with federal and state agencies and undergo a thorough training and re-certification process. Methods are used to fracture and break solid and continuous rock layers into smaller and more manageable pieces that can be either pushed with dozers or loaded onto haulage vehicles to be moved to another portion of the mine.
Contrary to statements made by some opponents of surface mining, operators do not “blast the entire top off a mountain or ridge” but remove overlying materials in a controlled manner. In addition, runoff from all disturbed areas is directed to a regulatory approved sediment basin which captures effluent and sediment before it can leave the site and enter a stream.
Safety measures are paramount in blasting areas and strict regulatory guidelines are adhered to at all times. The “shot” consists of a series of precise, time-delayed separate detonations (not a single blast). Once the shot is set off, the area is checked by the blasting personnel for unexploded charges before mining personnel are allowed back in the area. The material is then removed, and a second area is then prepared in order to continue the blasting sequence.
The amount of overburden removed is dependent on the number and thickness of the underlying coal seams, and the extent of previous underground mining that has occurred. Surface mining operations are generally laid out based on the ratio (a feasible ratio is 15:1 and 20:1 depending on the quality of the coal) of overburden material to be removed versus the amount of coal to be recovered. It is very rare that a surface mine will take more than 200 – 300 feet of overburden due to the economic cost of handling this much material. The allegation that as much as 300 vertical meters (1,000 feet) is removed does not ring true, as the mountain ridges in the subject region generally do not extend much more than that height above the surrounding valleys, and sometimes are of less than that height. There are no instances in which a mountain is removed in its entirety, and such would not be feasible.