INTL 407 2012Summer Op-ed: Industrial propagandas about mountaintop removal worsen environmental injustice

Xiaorui Huang

INTL 407 Environmental Justice
Final essay: Op-ed
Instructor: Prof. Yvonne Braun
Grade: A+

Industrial propagandas about mountaintop removal worsen environmental injustice

Since 1990s, mountaintop removal (MTR), a large scale, highly mechanized mining practice has been gradually adopted by coal industry in Appalachian areas to replace conventional underground mining (Woods & Gordon 808). To gain public support for MTR, coal industry has made various propagandas. These propagandas worsen the environmental injustice caused by MTR in Appalachian mining communities by both hiding MTR’s impacts on local environment from the public and creating an illusion of MTR’s local economic benefits. Mislead by such propagandas, the public and politicians largely remain inactive to address the environmental injustice caused by MTR. As an effort to correct the public misunderstanding of MTR and call for more public support to address the environmental injustice it causes, I will debunk industrial propagandas about MTR in the following text.

While peddling very hard the reclaimablity of MTR sites, coal industry intentionally hides the severe environmental damage of MTR practices borne by mining communities.

First, the industrial propagandas ignore that MTR produces a huge amount of coal waste, which causes the water pollution. According to data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in around 500 completed MTR sites in Appalachian area, more than 2,000 miles of valleys and streams are buried in coal waste (qtd. in Epstein et al. 77). While coal companies “conveniently” dump mining waste in these valleys and streams, the runoff with high heavy metal concentration often pollutes water sources of nearby communities. In Kentucky, MTR practices on 293 sites contaminate more than 2500 miles of streams (Epstein et al. 77) Also, a study shows that many residents in Appalachian mining communities tend to buy bottle water as both tap and well water is undrinkable due to mining pollution (McSpirit & Reid 511).

Besides, the potential causation between MTR and flood is hidden in industrial propagandas. By clearing forest on the mining sites and changing landform, MTR greatly impairs the ability of mountains to absorb rainwater and prevent it from flushing down to nearby communities (Burning the Future: Coal in America). Consequently, floods and debris flows are more likely to occur in mining communities due to MTR practices.

Therefore, if the general public outside Appalachian area perceives the environmental impacts of MTR through industrial propagandas, they will never know the true environmental costs that mining communities pay for the national enjoyment of cheap electricity. Such misinformation allows the environmental injustice caused by MTR to continue without much public awareness.

Other than hiding the true disastrous impacts of MTR on local environment, coal industry also propagates fictitious local economic benefits of MTR, which persuades the public to connive at the MTR-caused environmental injustice even when the environmental damage of MTR are revealed.

First, coal industry falsely claims that even though MTR is less labor intensive, it increases the productivity of mining, helps coal industry develop and then provide more jobs (Woods & Gordon 808). This propaganda not only convinces some politicians but many members of mining communities (Woods & Gordon 807). Some MTR-advocates even argues that mining communities should endure MTR’s environmental damage for its employment boost. However, along with the increasing coal production from 1980s to 2000s, the mining employment in the Appalachian area actually decreased by 56% (Epstein et al. 84).In this sense, the increased coal productivity by MTR does not help but decrease mining employment.

Coal industry also argues that MTR increases the productivity of coal industry and contributes to local and state economy, which also contradicts to the reality. For example, in 2006, while coal mining generated $528 million revenues for Kentucky, it receives nearly $650 million subsidies from state government (Konty & Bailey 1). In addition, a significant amount of state expenditure has been spent on addressing social and environmental issues associated with MTR (Epstein et al. 90). At local level, poverty rate rises as mining activities increase while the average educational level and household income decrease (Hendryx & Ahern 547-48). Thus, MTR and coal industry in general do not help state and local economy.

Obviously, coal industry lies about the local economic benefits of MTR. However, mislead general public are swayed to remain inactive on the environmental injustice issues caused by MTR.

In conclusion, industrial propagandas worsen the environmental injustice caused by MTR in Appalachian mining communities. Under the influences of such propagandas, the public is barely aware of the true environmental costs paid by Appalachian mining communities for the cheap national electricity supply. Moreover, the limited public and political support for addressing the MTR-caused environmental injustice is swayed by the fictitious local economic benefits of MTR. Therefore, to address the MTR-caused environmental injustice effectively, more efforts are called for on raising public awareness of the true environmental and economic impacts of MTR, as well as of the biases of industrial propagandas.

Works Cited

Burning the future: Coal in America. Dir. David Novack. Perf. Maria Gunnoe, Bo Webb, Ben Stout, Billy Sammons. New Video Group, 2008. DVD.

Epstein, Paul, Samir Doshi, Jonathan Buonocore, Leslie Glustrom, Melissa Ahern, Nancy Reinhart, Beverly May, Richard Clapp, Richard Heinberg, Benjamin Stout, Michael Hendryx, and Kevin Eckerle. "Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1219.1 (2011): 73-98. Print.

Hendryx , Michael, and Melissa Ahern. "Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost." Public Health Reports 124.4 (2009): 541-50. Print.

Konty, Melissa, and Jason Bailey. "The Economics of Coal in Kentucky: Current Impacts and Future Prospects." MACED : Mountain Association for Community Economic Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2012. <http://www.maced.org/coal/>.

McSpirit, Stephanie, and Caroline Reid. "Residents' Perceptions of Tap Water and Decisions to Purchase Bottled Water: A Survey Analysis from the Appalachian, Big Sandy Coal Mining Region of West Virginia." Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal 24.5 (2011): 511-20. Print

"Mountaintop Removal and the EPA, is Congress next? | Energy, Technology, & Policy." Energy, Technology, & Policy | Writing at the intersection of engineering, science and public policy for the world's energy challenges.. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2012. <http://webberenergyblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/mountaintop-removal-and-the-epa-is-congress-next/>.

Woods, Brad, and Jason Gordon. "Mountaintop Removal and Job Creation: Exploring the Relationship Using Spatial Regression." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101.4 (2011): 806-15. Print.