The Horrors of Hobet Coal Mine

 1. Loss of topographic complexity:

            Mountaintop removal causes narrow, steep ridges to become broader and lower in elevation and filled valleys to become higher in elevation.  Studies* have shown that altering the soils, microclimates, and elevation ranges cause the topographic changes that arise from mountaintop mining to disturb the complex gradient that influences the distribution of the region’s biota (Wickham, et. all).

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2. Forest loss and fragmentation:

            Mountaintop removal results directly in deforestation (i.e. cutting down trees). It also leads to forest fragmentation, which is the “disaggregation of forest into smaller and more numerous patches” (Wickham, et. all).  Studies have shown that as the number of forest patches increases and the average area of the remaining patches declines, “the proportion of the remaining forest that can be classified as interior declines, and the proportion of the remaining forest that can be classified as edge increases” (Wickham, et. all). 

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3. Forest succession and soil loss:

            Forest reclamation on previously mined lands is generally not successful in initiating natural succession of the forest (Wickham, et. all).  Loss of fertile soil due to mining has also been shown to limit the likelihood of forest reestablishment and succession. 

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4. Forest loss and carbon sequestration:

            Reforestation of mined sites would likely increase carbon sequestration (Wickham, et. all).  Mountaintop removal converts an area that was previously a carbon sink into one that is a carbon source through land cleaning, excavation, transportation and burning in power plants (Wickham, et. all). 

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5. Loss of biodiversity:

            Mountaintop removal negatively impacts the diversity of forest communities, as well as both flora and fauna, found in the region.  In a study in southern West Virginia, it was found that the “abundance and diversity of species that depend on mature forest were reduced in the forest patches associated with reclaimed mines” (Wickham, et. all).  It was also found that the “community composition on and adjacent to mines shifted for terrestrial vegetation, songbirds, raptors, and herpetofauna relative to that of nearby contiguous blocks of mature forest” (Wickham, et. all). 

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6. Human health and well-being:

            Studies have shown that exposure of human populations to mountaintop mining causes an “increased incidence of mortality and morbidity in mountaintop mining regions after adjustment for covariates, such as age, income, gender, level of education, and so on” (Wickham, et. all). Results of other studies conducted also indicate that “residents close to mountain mines have higher rates of birth defects, higher rates of lung, respiratory, and kidney disease, and a lower self-assessed quality of life” (Wickham, et. all).

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*Note: the studies referred to above are discussed in the scholarly article “The Overlooked Terrestrial Impacts of Mountaintop Mining” by James Wickham, Petra Bohall Wood, Matthew C. Nicholson, William Jenkins, Daniel Druckenbrod, Glenn W. Suter, Michael P. Stager, Christine Mazzarella, Walter Galloway, and John Amos.