The Impacts of Coal Mining “America the beautiful, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesties, above the fruited plain” (Bates, 1893). These words written by poet Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 offered her view of America and the landscapes that stretched out before her. At the same time Kathrine was experiencing visions that inspired her to write America the Beautiful, The United States was in the middle of experiencing The Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was largely responsible for the role it played in the utilization of coal. It was discovered that coal, as a fuel source, was unlike any other. The undeniable efficient qualities of coal made it a must have energy source. Coal was discovered to be very affordable and …show more content…
Impacts of coal mining are visible by landscapes that lack the beauty of a mountainous backdrop and landscapes that are void of any trees or plants. These areas are left barren by the excavating of the earth in order to reveal the coal hidden underneath (Theilmann, 2015). In conjunction with the impact on the environment, various health issues have arisen, along with the heightened issues of safety. Black lung, a respiratory disease, and mine accidents are responsible for thousands of mine workers being injured or even killed every year. These deaths are a result of suffocation from poisonous gases found within the mines and explosions that lead to the collapsing of mines roofs. The mortality rates of workers in the coal mining industry has one of the highest ranks in the industrial sector of mining (Joyce, 1998). As evident, the destruction left behind by the mining of coal is detrimental to the environment and has a huge impact on the welfare of the mine workers employed by the coal mining
The dark side of mining was brought to the fore when the Aberfan disaster hit the community. Mike Jenkins talked about how his son ‘ran forever’ unaware of the undetected ‘tumour’ that was lurking within the mountain. He describes the danger as a ‘tumour’ like that of a tumour in a body that is undetectable until it is too late and the danger cannot be averted. The other analogy with the tumour is that it is terminal and eventually will kill the patient.
One of the biggest problems with working in a mine is the the health risks you are taking when stepping into a mine and staying there anywhere from 10-16 hours of the day. Miners of the Gilded Age, needless to say, did not live very long at all. Some of the diseases they contracted were black lung, Silicosis, and COPD. Coal Miner’s Pneumoconiosis, more commonly referred to as Black Lung, is caused by inhaling respirable coal mine dust. Silicosis is a more specific, but yet still commonly found in coal miners, version of Black Lung caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica, such as Quartz, a major component in rocks. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD, is still common today in people who don’t even work in mines. COPD is a progressive disease that increases airway
"The Toll from Coal." Catf.us. Clean Air Task Force, Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Every year, almost 1,500 people who have worked in the nation’s coalmines die from black lung disease. That’s equivalent to the Titanic sinking every year, with no ships coming to the rescue. While that disaster which took place so long ago continues to fascinate the nation, black lung victims die an agonizing death in isolated rural communities, away from the spotlight of publicity.
Fossil fuels are an extreme hazard to workers in the industry. In order to contribute the fossil fuels that power our economy, workers in coal mines, natural gas fields and oil rigs perish or endure major injuries every year. An article in the Center for American Progress states, “Explosions, fires, and collapsed mine shafts have killed at least 3,827 miners since 1968—not to mention thousands of others who have suffered from pulmonary diseases and other work-related injuries” (Weiss). Coal mining is one of the United States’s most dangerous professions and has been responsible for thousands of workplace injuries. In addition, Natural gas pipelines have caused 892 deaths and 6,258 injuries since 1970 and 161 deaths and 576 injuries this decade alone (Shearman). Workers in the fossil fuel industries risk their health exposing themselves to harsh working conditions every si...
...k. Coal was and is a big part of Kentucky’s history and still of life for family’s here.
The loss of a life is the ultimate tragedy, and over the thousands of years of mining history, the industry has had its share of casualties. Mining deals with the extraction of raw materials like coal, diamond, iron-ore etc. Mining industries can be both open cast mining and underground mining. Although we have improved in the technology and study of the earth, mining industry is a very dangerous job. One of the most dangerous work of mining has been mentioned to be coal mining in which they extract coal from underground. Coal mining hazardous mixture of gas and coal dust can form a fatal explosion. As a matter of fact, I reviewed an article that mention the worst coal mining known as the Benxi Hu colliery disaster in China in 1942. “Cost 1,549 lives and is believed to be the worst coal mining disaster ever.” (Limited, 2014)
Although coal mining is important to local and global economies, there are many environmental impacts of both the mining and use of coal that must be considered. Actions can be taken to mitigate these environmental impacts but it is up to scientists to identify these potential problems and put plans into action before it is too late.
In her book Coal A Human History, Barbara Freese states "The mundane mineral that built our global economyand even today powers our electrical plantshas also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction" (front flap) Today, coal provides for more than 55% of the electricity generated in the U.S. (Cullen, Robert Vol.272) Coal miners have had one of the most dangerous jobs in history before government regulation. Many miners had to work underground for 10 + hours a day and 6 days a week(Cobb, James "Coal") The number of deaths per year is the equivalent of a Titanic going down in the nation's coal fields each year (Turkington, Carol) According to James Cobb from the World Book Online Reference Center mine safety involves four main types of problems including accidents involving machinery, roof and rib failures, accumulations of gases and concentrations of coal dust.
It is recognized that in a time when the Internet and technology have taken over; mining still employees and provides livelihood to a vase number of people. However, the process of mining affects our health and our environment. According to Wikipedia, “The environmental impact of mining include erosion , formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining proces...
Coal mining came along long before the industrial revolution had even commenced, it was an easy and well paid job until the coal, was pushed further down into the ground.
This article is about coal and the dangers of mining and using this natural resource. The article states that coal is used in production of half of the electricity that Americans utilize. Coal is a cheap form of natural resource and was once a growing industry, but now due to the fear of climate change and the effects on the environment it is slowly declining. There are now so many regulations attached to mining coal that many coal plants have shut down and left thousands out of work. Coal mining is a very dangerous job and leads to many deaths throughout the years. In 1992 in Wise County, Virginia eight miners were killed due to numerous violations that went unnoticed and ignored. A buildup of methane gas resulted in an explosion that killed
Coal mining can benefit humans as well as it supports the economy in many ways. Coal mining provides a lot of jobs for local communities. It provides over 7 million jobs worldwide.
The coal mining has several disadvantages which not only limited to carbon di oxide emission but also affect the land, water, human health and other species life. Underground and opencast mining both have their tremendous disadvantages for environment and the society. Underground mining requires fire blast which has lined up severe situations like human safety and environmental pollution. These activities are also responsible for the displacement of the human beings, animals and other species hence it will disturb the ecosystem. In 2006, 30 million people displace which was 50% higher than the year of 1991. The coal mining also requires large amount of water from the nearby source and this waste and contaminated water generally disposed to some river and land. These activities affect the normal drinking water, underground/surface water and the minerals of lands. The large scale excavations, removal of surface soil, dumping chemical wastes, creation of road, cutting of mountains etc. all these actions causing severe impact on the land. The land deforestation is one of the most severe problems because it’s also related to the local people and animals. Number of species and animals rapidly got endangered from the past few years because of such activities.
Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. Some examples of minerals in the home include the telephone which is made from as many as 42 different minerals, including aluminum, beryllium, coal, copper, gold, iron, silver, and talc. A television requires over 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a single personal computer. Without boron, copper, gold and quartz, your digital alarm clock would not work. Every American uses an average 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, which is higher than all other countries with the exception of Japan, which is a staggering figure representative of our dependence and need for mined minerals. Coal makes up more than half of nation’s electricity, and will continue to be the largest electrical supplier into 2020 & accounting for some 95 percent of the nation's fossil energy reserves – nine of every ten short-tons of coal mined in the United States is used for electricity generation. As the population of the world grows more mineral resources must be exploited through mining in order to support the rising demand for such products. Though it may present a hazard to the environment and those physically located nears the mines, the materials extracted from mines...