Today was an eye-opening experience. Up to this point, my vision of surface mining had been influenced by lots of negative opinions. Even my trip to Joe Knob the other day seemed to feed that negativity. BUT . . . today was a turning point.
We visited a surface mine . . . Coal Mac, which is part of Arch Coal. We were first shown a slide show of their mining techniques, production accomplishments, and reclamation efforts. Of course, as with the negative sides, anyone can pick the best pictures and say accomplishments are being made. The idea of a surface mine having a positive impact was still out of the picture. Then we started driving around the mine. Yes, there was a lot of dirt, rocks and barren space but then we started coming to areas that were recently finished with mining. Grasses were growing, birds, bugs, and evidence of other wildlife (bear poop!!) began to show. Finally we reached the destination . . . a reclaimed site only 6 years young. And what a surprise I saw. A hill that I couldn't tell any differently from unmined hills. If it had not been pointed out to me, I don't think i would have known it. Truth be told, I think it was in better shape the the original hills surrounding it. It was beautiful. My point of view on surface mining changed at that moment.
We then drove on around and saw part of one hill that had been left flat on the top so that pasture land could be made available for a horse farm. Something that would never have been found in the Logan area anywhere. This was such a great opportunity for someone to be able to be successful in a place riddled with flood planes everywhere. I was disappointed to hear from Coal Mac that acreage had been planned for agricultural development (flat farmland in Logan!!) but the permit for that had been pulled and they were now going to have to put the mountain back. What a disappointment for an area that otherwise cannot be successful at having a working farm area. An opportunity washed away, not by coal mining, but by environmentalist.
I would like to say to all that oppose surface mining, that before you make your judgements, you need to get the information for yourself. Sometimes the opportunity for the community to improve itself and keeping the environment intact are views that need to be pondered. Everyone complains about what surface mining does to the mountains, but all along the way on this trip, I traveled along roads that were cut through the mountains and the areas that were cut look just like surface mining . . . but it's never put back. Why is that destruction of the hills is ok, but surface mining (that reclaims or repurposes the hills for the better of the community) is considered wrong? I think some people that have that agenda are walking around with blinders on.
The second half of the day we went to a coal processing plant to see how coal was cleaned and particles or waste was taken out of the mined coal. It was very interesting to see how many steps are taken to get the coal "cleaned" before it is shipped out. Today was an awesome day.
We visited a surface mine . . . Coal Mac, which is part of Arch Coal. We were first shown a slide show of their mining techniques, production accomplishments, and reclamation efforts. Of course, as with the negative sides, anyone can pick the best pictures and say accomplishments are being made. The idea of a surface mine having a positive impact was still out of the picture. Then we started driving around the mine. Yes, there was a lot of dirt, rocks and barren space but then we started coming to areas that were recently finished with mining. Grasses were growing, birds, bugs, and evidence of other wildlife (bear poop!!) began to show. Finally we reached the destination . . . a reclaimed site only 6 years young. And what a surprise I saw. A hill that I couldn't tell any differently from unmined hills. If it had not been pointed out to me, I don't think i would have known it. Truth be told, I think it was in better shape the the original hills surrounding it. It was beautiful. My point of view on surface mining changed at that moment.
We then drove on around and saw part of one hill that had been left flat on the top so that pasture land could be made available for a horse farm. Something that would never have been found in the Logan area anywhere. This was such a great opportunity for someone to be able to be successful in a place riddled with flood planes everywhere. I was disappointed to hear from Coal Mac that acreage had been planned for agricultural development (flat farmland in Logan!!) but the permit for that had been pulled and they were now going to have to put the mountain back. What a disappointment for an area that otherwise cannot be successful at having a working farm area. An opportunity washed away, not by coal mining, but by environmentalist.
I would like to say to all that oppose surface mining, that before you make your judgements, you need to get the information for yourself. Sometimes the opportunity for the community to improve itself and keeping the environment intact are views that need to be pondered. Everyone complains about what surface mining does to the mountains, but all along the way on this trip, I traveled along roads that were cut through the mountains and the areas that were cut look just like surface mining . . . but it's never put back. Why is that destruction of the hills is ok, but surface mining (that reclaims or repurposes the hills for the better of the community) is considered wrong? I think some people that have that agenda are walking around with blinders on.
The second half of the day we went to a coal processing plant to see how coal was cleaned and particles or waste was taken out of the mined coal. It was very interesting to see how many steps are taken to get the coal "cleaned" before it is shipped out. Today was an awesome day.
guessing they never showed u or u never saw the local ( sludge pool's / pit's ) the run off of cleaning the cooal before being shipped off..... there was a lot of these pool's / pit's... some were above lil town's & lot's were above ad-jointing schools...some school's got moved some never did.... some of the pit's & pool's leaked & some never did...... i've seen live samples infront of me it's really disgusting to look at esp,. when it's fresh it smells sooooo awfull !!!!!! yes on the strip mining i agree some ppl., only see a small negitive & blow it all up out of wack.... some places is done reallly nicely !!!!!! i alway's was a bit curious of how they kept the roof up there in tacted w/ really super long bolt's & a 2 part epoxy glue that i'm guessing is a patent any more these day's.... i bet they had a lot of trial's & error's w/ it all before really using it to hold up roof top's....... SADLY CAN'T LOOK ANY OF THIS STUFF UP ON NOW A DAY'S LIKE U-TUBE ( YOUTUBE ).... EVEN THE TREE BRANCH THING GETTING THE ROOF TOP UP IN PLACE BEFORE THEY DRILL & BOLT IT ALL UP ON THE ROOF'S OF THE INSIDE MINE'S...... REALLY WISHING when u were doing all this there was some one shooting some sort of video as u were going & talking about all this very very intrigging stuff !!!!!!!!!!! sooo super glad to be reading about the blogg's thooooooooooooo when able too.........
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