Although underground coal mines operations are not as visible as surface mining, their overall environmental impact can be greater than that of the typical surface mine. A key environmental problem is subsidence. Underground mines are large cavities in the rock, and depending on the strength of the intervening strata, the depth of the mine, and the type of mining and roof support, the rock walls can fail, causing cracks and land collapse at the surface. Typically, coal seams at depths greater than about 200 feet are extracted by underground mining methods rather than by surface mining, with the exact depth principally based on the relative amount of coal and overburden. However, before improved technology made surface mining so affordable, the trade-off occurred at much shallower depths; some abandoned underground mines are only 35 feet below the land surface. (more…)
Currently, site reclamation is planned for during the permitting process and is incorporated into the mining operation. However, th ...
Historically, mining companies have extracted the earth’s resources wherever economics made it feasible, secure in their knowledge ...
Before the passage of regulations dictating mined land reclamation and mine water discharge standards, streams and rivers down-grad ...
Anyone who wants to save money on gas should be interested in the process of underground coal gasification, or UCG. It is an al ...
Coal is an important energy source and energy consumption in United States as well as worldwide. It will remain so for many yea ...
