The Costs of Coal in Pennsylvania
Effects of Longwall MiningBy Stephen Kunz, Senior Ecologist, Schmid & Company, Inc The recent power shortages in California and blackouts in the Northeast have generated increased awareness of how the nation’s electricity is produced. As a result, there has been a renewed focus on coal as a cheap and plentiful source of electrical power. While acknowledging that there are some adverse environmental effects associated with coal’s production and use, many analysts generally give the impression that its lower cost (recently about one-third that of natural gas) gives it a big advantage over other power sources in the nation’s energy future. Pennsylvania is a leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal. One significant factor that is typically overlooked when comparing coal with alternative sources of energy is that the market price of coal produced in Pennsylvania does not reflect all of the costs associated with its production and use. Emissions from coal-fired power plants cause smog and soot that cause asthma attacks and other respiratory problems for millions of people each year. Those same emissions create acid rain, which damages our lakes and forests. Mercury, a waste product of burning coal, can cause neurological damage. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, contributes to global warming. As if that isn’t bad enough, the mining of coal has its own
serious set of problems. In Pennsylvania, most coal is mined underground
by the “longwall” method. Many of the costs related
to longwall mining are being borne not by the mining industry, but
by the residents of the coalfields, by the taxpayers, and by the
citizens of the Commonwealth whose environment is being sacrificed
without the proper attention of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection. Like a Canary in the Coal MineI am a consulting ecologist with over 20 years experience assessing the environmental impacts of development in Pennsylvania and nearby states. The results of my three-year investigation of longwall mining can be found in the report “Wetlands and Longwall Mining—Regulatory Failure in Southwestern Pennsylvania,” published in 2000 by the Raymond Proffitt Foundation, available online at www.rayproffitt.org. Longwall coal mining causes natural resource destruction that is not adequately recognized, analyzed, minimized, or compensated —despite an existing regulatory process that is supposed to protect the environment. The regulation of mining in Pennsylvania has not kept up with high-extraction mining technology. My report focuses on a regulatory problem as it relates to wetlands, but like the “canary in the coal mine,” the situation with wetlands is but an indicator of other serious problems associated with longwall mining. Other Consequences Related to Longwall Mining
The Department of Environmental Protection acts more like a Department
of Energy Production when it ignores existing laws and regulations
and provides the mining industry a de facto exemption from the same
environmental protection requirements that other industries must
comply with. The costs to extract coal are passed along to the coalfield
residents, to the environment, and to the taxpayers, thereby inflating
the private profits of mine operators and distorting coal’s
market advantage over competing energy resources. Background on the ProblemBituminous coal has been mined in Pennsylvania since 1760. Pennsylvania currently ranks fourth in terms of the total amount of coal produced annually in the U.S. (behind Wyoming, West Virginia, and Kentucky). As a result of more than 200 years of coal mining, some 3,200 miles of Pennsylvania streams currently are degraded by acid mine drainage, nearly as many as all other sources of pollution combined. Mines today are supposed to treat their acid water before it is discharged to streams. Damage to wetlands and waters continue, however, although the nature of the damage has changed with changing technology. Until about 15 to 20 years ago, most Pennsylvania coal was mined
underground by the room-and-pillar method, whereby pillars of coal
are left in place to prevent collapse (subsidence) of overlying
rock layers into the void created by the mined-out coal. Where localized
subsidence of the land surface occurred, it generally was unintentional,
the result of improper mine design or secondary robbing of pillars. The Method of ChoiceA relatively new technology, longwall mining has been the method of choice for Pennsylvania underground coal production in recent years, in large part because the labor requirements are very low and the production efficiency is extremely high. In contrast to surface mines, the typical longwall mine operator owns only a small proportion of the surface land it disturbs above the coal deposits. The full-extraction longwall technology makes possible the removal of essentially the entire 5- to 6-foot thick coal seam in 1,000+-foot-long panels beneath tens of thousands of acres of land. Unfortunately, subsidence is an integral part of longwall mining. And therein lies the problem. In longwall mines the rock layers above the coal seam collapse as the temporary support protecting miners is advanced, causing cracks and rock movement that reaches hundreds of feet up to the land surface. Surface subsidence of up to 4 feet is common as the working face passes beneath a given location. Buildings, roads, wells, streams, ponds, and wetlands often are affected by the uneven movement and cracking of underlying soils and rocks. The precise extent and location of the subsidence are related to local site conditions and are difficult to forecast with precision. Wetlands and streams are formally acknowledged as important resources
in federal and state laws, and regulations have been adopted to
afford them protection. Environmental laws enacted to protect wetlands
and streams in Pennsylvania are meant to apply equally to coal mining
as to other kinds of industrial activities. But they are administered
very differently for coalmines than for other kinds of activities.
Information routinely produced for applications for housing, shopping
centers, highways, utilities, and other kinds of construction or
development is not being required during the review of coalmine
applications. The DEP Bureau of Mining and Reclamation thus provides
a de facto exemption to mine applicants by not requiring proper
inventories of resources, assessments of impacts, and implementation
of appropriate monitoring and mitigative measures as their regulations
stipulate they should. Residents Feel PowerlessPublic awareness of environmental impacts is frustrated by this lack of agency attention to environmental problems associated with mining. Economic and political power is perceived as resting with the few conglomerates that run the huge longwall mines, as opposed to the thousands of owners of homes, farms, and businesses on the land surface. There is widespread concern among residents of the coalfields and in the environmental community that mining regulation is not effectively protecting public resources and privately owned surface resources when coal is removed and prepared for market. There are many problems related to the use and mining of coal, each with its associated hidden costs. Until all of the environmental and public health costs are taken into account, the price of coal will remain artificially low. Unless these considerations are factored into the equation, no accurate comparison of coal can be made with alternative sources of energy. Click here to
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