http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0603/feature5/index.html
In the article, "When Mountains Move" by John G. Mitchell, the author exposes the atrocities committed by the Energy and Coal Mining industries that have corrupted a picturesque portion of Americana. Mountain top removal, which is the process of using high explosives to boar into a mountain and sifting the debris was first used in the 1970's as a quicker and more efficient way of extracting the bituminous coal from the Appalachian mountains in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. Although this is a major portion of the economy for these rural areas, on the other hand they are causing more harm to the locals than the benefits. Residents describe constant blasting shaking their homes and no stop traffic of convoys overladen with coal, but worse are the floods, sterile landscapes, and lagoons of black slurry as a bi-product of washing the coal.
When the coal companies first used the process of mountaintop removal, it was a method that was able to boost the production of coal in the area and keep money in the economy flowing. However, this caused an initial loss of over 100,00 jobs in the area. Mountaintop removal is bringing more money to the states' economies but it is taking away from the local economy. Another example is when the slurry lagoons have been breeched due to excessive rainfall or poor design. Without accounting for the hundreds of people that have been killed, the runoff of this substance caused miles of stream bed to be ecologically hazardous. All of these instances happened after the Clean Water Act which created the impounds of slurry in the first place. The only real bonus of destroying the mountains is the land available for development after the mine is empty
The externalities raised the production and amount of revenue, but it also caused societies' benefits to be outweighed by the costs. With all of the health hazards, damage to property, and ecological damages to the areas; the process of mountaintop removal is a burden to the Appalachians economies.
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1 comment:
Your summary includes some interesting points. The article mentions some of the specific health and economic impacts of the surface mining. Also, the citizens have gone to court over some of these issues. This community action would be interesting to include in your summary. Try to add as much criticism and analysis of the article you are reviewing.
-Steve
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