Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Impact on the Local

Communities and Watershedin Perry County, KY

by David Templar – Winter Quarter 2015GIS 4680 Environmental Applications

Kentucky is the third largest coal producing state in the United States. In 2013, 80.4 million short tons of coal were mined from the state of Kentucky. (US. EnergyInformation Administration http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=69&t=2)

The Appalachian Mountains run through the southeastern part of Kentucky,and this region has historically been known for its coal production and the coalindustry’s prominence on the local economy.

Perry County is one of the heavilymined counties in the Appalachian region (highlighted in yellow).

Darkened areas represent coal mining regions.

Mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining has been a controversial topic in Kentucky since it began in the 1970’s, and concerns about its environmental impact on the communities in Perry County and throughout Appalachia rage on today.

MTR coaling mining involves removing the top 600-800 feet of a mountain with explosives for the mining companies to reach the coal seam. Large excavating equipment remove the earth that was atop the mountain, and trucks transport this material, known as overburden, to nearby valleys where it is dumped into mountain streams. Once the valleys are full, the land is leveled off, creating what are known as valley fills.

Appalachian residents have complained for years that these valley fills pollute the local water supply with numerous toxic mineral compositions, and studies have shown health risks have increased in these communities since MTR was first permitted.

A Coal Slurry Pond in Perry County, KY

The October 2000 Martin County Sludge Disaster

Mountains before mining

Mountains after mining

Photos courtesy of http://www.mountainroadPshow.com/misc/MTR_Tour_Guide_KY_VA%20_WV.pdf andhttp://www.plunderingappalachia.org/theissue.htm

This GIS model will:

1. calculate the total areas - of mountain removed - of the material dumped 2. generate the extent of contamination of the watershed within range of streams and local communities

Basic Steps involved include:

• Clipping Kentucky state shapefiles to cover solely Perry County

• Creating a buffer around contaminated streams within 1000 meters of three mine locations

• Using the Statistics tool to determine the amount of mountain material that is removed and deposited into mountain streams and the total distance of streams polluted by mountaintop removal coal mining

Final Map and Results

The total area of mountaintop

removed = 4,578,124 m2.

The total area of deposits dumped in the

valley fills = 2,783,952 m2.

The total length of the streams

contaminated by the mining process = 90,465 meters.

References

Cooper, Dave. “http—www.mountainroadshow.com-misc-MTR_Tour_Guide_KY_VA%20_WV.pdf.” The Mountaintop Removal Roadshow. n.d. http://www.mountainroadshow.com/misc/MTR_Tour_Guide_KY_VA20%_WV.pdf

Kentucky Geography Network. Kentucky Geography Network – Geoportal. n.d. http://kygisserver.ky.gov/geoportal/catalog/search/resource/details.page?uuid=%7B98DA4C1F-9026-4FCC-96D3-2B76585CDC69%7D