When looking at the negative impacts of coal one would be remiss not to take a close look at sludge impoundments.
Before being transported to market, coal must be washed to separate it from the surrounding soil and rock–the more impurities a company can remove from coal, the higher its market value and the lesser the transportation costs. The washing process generates huge volumes of liquid waste, while the mining process generates millions of tons of solid waste. The cheapest way for coal companies deal with this some of this waste is by constructing dams from the solid mining refuse (that is, rocks and soil) to impound the liquid waste. (In mountaintop removal coal mining, some of the solid refuse is dumped directly into valleys). Coal companies usually build these dams in the heads of hollows (valleys), close to their coal processing plants.
The photos in this post are from a sludge impoundment operated by Marfork Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy, located in Raleigh County, WV.
Photos courtesy B. Mark Schmerling
From Appalachian Voices
In addition to the environmental impacts of blasting mountains into rubble and burying streams with mining waste, mountaintop removal coal mining requires the building of giant sludge dams, which can hold billions of gallons of toxic coal sludge behind un-reinforced earthen dams. These slurries are necessary because, unlike coal from underground mines, coal from mountaintop removal requires extensive washing to separate the coal from debris and residues from the blasting of bedrock.
As of 2000, there were more than 600 sludge impoundments across the Appalachian coalfields. Chemical analyses of this sludge indicate it contains large amounts of arsenic, mercury, lead, copper, and chromium, among other toxins, which eventually seep into the drinking water supply of nearby communities.
Coal Impoundment Location & Information System: Brushy Fork Sludge Impoundment
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Sludge impoundments are another reason why coal can never be considered clean.
