skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Mountaintop Coal Mining: Proven Destructive to People and the Environment

play audio
Play

Monday, January 25, 2010   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee environmentalists have new ammunition in their fight against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining (MRCM) after an article published in "Science" magazine confirming that the practice has cataclysmic effects on plants, animals and people.

The article says the effects of MRCM on people include causing lung cancer, chronic heart, lung and kidney disease, and higher mortality rates. Axel Ringe, vice-chair of conservation for the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club, says decapitating mountains to get to seams of coal may be economically expedient, but it's environmentally foolish.

"They drill into the rock and put explosives in and turn the mountaintop into rubble. They continue this process on down until they get to the coal seam that they're interested in and then they scoop up the coal and they truck it off."

Severe environmental degradation occurs, including the destruction of vast tracts of ancient forest, and hundreds of miles of small streams are affected. Ringe says that, while required reclamation does take place after the coal is mined, the natural habitat of the area never fully recovers from the effects of minerals exposed by the process.

"You have things like barium, you have aluminum, you have manganese, you have iron, you have selenium; a number of these are toxic in sufficient quantities."

The "Science" article concluded that mountaintop removal permits should no longer be granted.

Even as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing its policy on mountaintop removal, it recently approved an expansion of the largest mountaintop-removal coal mine in West Virginia.

The "Science" article is at: www.sciencemag.org


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021