Mountaintop Removal

Join Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith and Charles Gregoire in a discussion about mountaintop removal mining (MTR), which is most often associated with the extraction of coal in the Appalachian Mountains in the states of Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

This video was recorded on July 24th, 2023, and published on Aug 13th, 2023.

Some of the topics discussed:

• How the inspiration to produce this video came from Paul’s reading of a John Grishom novel called Gray Mountain.
• How MTR is one among three forms of a broad category of mining referred to as surface mining where surface mining involves the removal of a layer of soil and rock, referred to as the overburden, overlying a mineral deposit, which in this case is a coal seam.
• How the process involves using explosives to blow the tops off mountains to reach thin seams of coal resulting in the dumping of millions of tons of rubble into the seams and valleys below.
• How this results in the leaching of toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, selenium, and arsenic into local water supplies.
• How MTR has affected the health of people living in communities near mountaintop removal sites leading to elevated incidences of cancer.
• The motivation to engage in MTR such as being safer than underground mines, less labor intensive, by up to 2 to 3 times, through the use of explosives and heavy equipment.
• How Canada still engages in surface mining for coal in the Elk valley of B.C.
• And much more . . .

Links:

• Mountaintop Removal Mining

• Self-reported cancer rates in two rural areas of West Virginia with and without mountaintop coal mining

• The shocking danger of mountaintop removal and why it must end | Michael Hendryx (Video)

• Coal 2020 - Analysis

• Column: What does ‘clean coal’ mean and can it save the planet?

• Could carbon capturing make ‘clean coal’ a reality? (Video)

• Gray Mountain (A John Grishom Novel)

• Clean Air Act (United States)

• The Last Mountain (A Documentary Film)

• Crimes Against Nature (An RFK Jr. Novel)

• Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast-growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018 (Paper by Karn Vohra et al.)

• Radioactive Wastes From Coal-fired Power Plants

• The Rise of the Steam Engine

• Industrial Revolution

• How does coke and coal play into steel making?

• Algoma Steel’s electric arc furnace project taking shape

• Has Sweden Invented Green Steel? (Video)

Regular Panelist:

• Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

• Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader

Video Production:

• Charles Gregoire - Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP28 Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Attributions:

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: Free Music Archive
• License: BY-NC 4.0

Image and Video:

• Image and Video Attributions