Moving Mountains Lecture: Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining and Public Health
Michael Hendryx
Enviroment
-has permanently buried over 1200 miles of streams
-spoil is deposited in adjacent valleys
-Conductivity in streams and rivers increased. Conductivity shouldn't be that high
Jobs
- Coal industry states: We need those jobs
Every coal mining job generates between 5 and 6 other jobs somewhere in the local economy
-Not true- the poverty rates in areas where mountaintop removal occurs, are very high
-Independent assessment: Generates only 2.35 jobs
Generates only 8 bill, direct, indirect, induced benefits
- coal mining areas low college attendance
low income
-no coal counties have the a normal income
-in fact, poverty rate where mining is significant, is highest
Health
-High mortality rate
-Age -adjusted lung cancer in coal-mining areas very high
-Cardiopulmonary and kidney disease mortality are much higher in areas of Appalachia where mtm occurs. This has been readjusted for smoking, age, etc
- Self-reported health surveys from CDC
-Low birth rate, Birth defects
- Respiratory effects are more significant in woman than men.
English: Valley fill - Mountaintop removal coal mi...
A picture of a mountaintop removal siteWork copyri...
Mining for coal via mountaintop removal at Kayford...We don't know why
-Paper towel story in town
-Mtm dust. Animal tests: dust kills heart cells. It impairs vascular function
-Ultrafines- particles the size of a virus. High surface to volume toxicity. High deposition rate.
-Annual deaths are much higher