Effects of surface mining on fish and wildlife in Appalachia

27 Pages·2015·10.33 MB·English

EFFE(TS OF SURFACE MINING
ON FISH AND WILDLIFE
IN APPALACHIA
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
FISH AND WIL LIFE SERVICE
BUREAU OF SPORT FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
tc' art L. chll. Secretary
FISH D WILDI.IFE SERVlCE, Clarence F. P;u!LZke, Commissioner
B REAU or- SPORT FISIIERIES ,\:'\I> \\'iillliFE, .John . GOLt chalk, J)ir('r/or
EFFECTS OF SURFACE MINING ON FISH AND WILDLIFE
IN APPALACHIA
~ Sj;ecial Repo·rt by
Jr.
Joseph . Boccard and \\ illard .\f. . paulding.
Divisio11 of Fishery emice
llUREA OF .I'ORT FISIIERII'S AND \VILDLIFI:
june 8, 196
l viJ..,
c.S ON, V.<l. ''Y(')'
Uureau of port Fisheries and Wildlife
Re ource Public:-uion 65
For sale b)' 1 he Superintendent of Documents, lJ.S. Government Printing Office
\l'ashillglOil. I).C. ~0102 l'titC :J:; CCIII<
ABSTRACT
This report on the effects of trip and surface mmmg on the fish and
wildlife resources in eight \ppalachian · Late is ba eel in part on observation
made during a tour of strip and surface mined area by the authors, a members of
a team of peciali t from ix Federal agencie . ur£ace mining · ha cau eel
extensive damage to fi h and wildlife habitat and population . tOtal of 832,605
acres of land have been eli turbecl; 81 percent of th se are in Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and We t Virginia. More than 5,000 miles of ppalachian tream and 13, 00 acre
of impoundments have been seriously contaminated by acid mine water, ome of
it from surface mining. dclitional water acreage has been adversely affected by
tremendous quantitie of silt and sediment. Reclamation o( mined lands i
needed. Three of the eight tate vi ·ited in 1965-66 had no law requiring
restoration of strip-mined lands, and other State needed stronger laws and more
enforcement (Virginia and Tennessee have ince pa eel law governing strip
mining). Reclamation a currently practiced in the ppalachian region doe· not
adequate!' re Lore mined lands to minimal standards necessary to protect and
improve fish and wildlife re ources.
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CONTENTS
Page
Abstract .. ..... . . ii
History of surface mining in Appalachia I
Extent and nature of disturbed areas 2
Effects of strip and surface mining on fish and wildlife 4
Acid pollution . . . . . . . . ...... . 4
Silt and sediment . 5
Food, cover, and access ........... . . 7
Esthetics ...... ...... ....... .... .... ..... . 8
Existing conditions by States ..... 9
Alabama ... .. .. . 9
Kentucky 10
Maryland ....... 12
Ohio 13
Pennsylvania 14
Tennessee 14
Virginia . . . . . . . . 15
West Virginia 16
Reclamation Accomplished 17
Effectiveness of reclamation 18
Benefits in fish and wildlife 19
Recommendations 19
References . . . . . . . . . .. 20
Cover.- Biackwater Falls in Blackwater Falls State Park, Tucker County, W. Va.
The gorge below the falls was noted for its trout fishing until this section of the
Blackwater River became polluted by acid from coal mine operations in the
1950's. (W. Va. Dept. Natural Resources photo)
Ill
Appalachia- shaded area indicates coal-bearing strata.
IV
EFFECTS OF SURFACE MINING ON FISH AND WILDLIFE IN APPALACHIA
The ppalachian Regional Development Act of ac c ·iblc, and the operations were increa eel
1965 (Public Law 89-4, approved March 9, 1965) (Gille pic, 1964) . Extcn ive trip and urfacc min
provides for public works, economic development ing of coal has had a brief hi tory, with the greate t
pr grams, and the planning and coordination ex pan. ion occurring during the last 25 year .
needed to develop the e activities. Surface mining of mineral (preclominantl • oal
The Department of the Interior is concerned in ppalachia), is accom1 lishecl primarily b ' rwo
particularly with section 205 of the ct, "Mining method·: contour ·tripping and area tripping.
Area Restoration." The purpose of that e tion i The c method may be emplo ·eel cparately or ro
the rehabilitation of area damaged by mining. geth r. depending on topography, 1 a t mining
Section 205 directs the ecretary of the Interior to operations. and the nature or cxrem of the depo it.
make a national sLUd of strip and urface mining ontom stripping. as the name implie , is a con
operation and their effect . The fir t phase of the tinuous procc s of following and removing a oal
survey ·was cond uctecl in the Appalachian region sc;lln around a hill icl or mountain top until the
by a field appraisal team from the Bureau of Sport min ral or min ral O\ ner~hip ends (fig. I) . Power
Fisheries and \Vildlife, the Bureau of fine· the cquipntcnt removes the material covering the coal
Geological Sun·c ·, the Forest ervi e th Federal (o,·crburclen), whi h i a t a ide or pu heel Lo the
\\at r Pollution Control dmini Lration, and the outer edge of the cut (fig. 2). The mine pit i a
Soil Conservation Ser ice. relati\'f.~ly I vel bench bounded on th inside by a
. cl ned mining area in Penn lvania, 'i\ c t ir ,·cnical high,,·all and on th out ide by a ridge of
gtt11<t. irginia. Ohio, Kcnruck . Tenne sec lvfary spoil which tails off downhill. An additional one
land. and labama were vi ired and evaluated by In four a1TI'S nf land may be disturbed for each
the Field Appraisal Team. Th area included O(Tt' of coal r('(overed by this tyfJe of mining. If
th prin ipal min rat commodities recovered by 1 here is more than one coal seam on the a me
~ttl fate mining in a h Stale. the mo L important hillside. multiple cur· are made, and poi! tailings
being coal. Tlllt~, this report d als primarily with m<t · extend tO the next lower tri.P mine (fig. 3) .
~trip and surfa e mining for coal in Appalachi;t Thi, siLttation is ommon in part· of Kentucky,
and its cn·ccL On fi h and wildlife. T nnessce, and 'i\ L Virginia, where in ome areas
'poi! banks cover entir hillside .
HISTORY OF SURFACE MINING IN APPALACHIA ,.\rca ~tripping i a compli heel in nat to rolling
Lerr<tin . . \ long trench is made aero s the mining
ttrfacc mining was probabl ' the earliest form area to expose the coal: after the coal is removed,
ol mineral recover in the Ap1 ala hian region. ln ~poi! front adjacent working· i dcpo ited in the
the earlier clays of the indu·rry, the re crvcs of in it i;tl cut. The operation continues until the en
min:-~blc coal were consi lered small, and it wa tire area i · mined. Thi type of mining leave
anticipated that they would soon be exhausted. As parallel ridges in rows of var ing heights (fig. 4) .
Luger mach i ncs were 1 rod uc d, reserve· of coal The last cut is generally left open. These open pits
theretofore considcre I impossible to mine became often contribute to pollution.
Figure 1.-Contour strip mine on Bird Mountain in Tennessee. Photograph taken from the same mine
half a mile away.
EXTENT AND NATURE OF DISTURBED AREAS 1964) , and the harmful effects on water are often
measurable tn area outside the mining area
The extent of strip mining in Appalachia
(fig. 5) .
presented in table I. The percentage of eli turbed
area in each State was calculated by dividing the Table 1.- Extent of surface disturbance in
total State area into the trip-mined area. The Appalachia
perc ntage are rather low. but the aggregate area
Tot~l ~cres Acres Percent
is more than 830,000 acres, and with increasing St~te in St~te disturbed eli turbed
needs ror coal this will double or triple within
th next 25 years. This potential disturbance by Al~bama 33,029,760 50,600 0.15
Georgia 37,680,640 300 Trace
surface mining is best demonstrated in VIlest Vir
Kentuck • 25.852,800 48,289 0.19
ginia, where the tate reclamation personnel an Maryland 6,769,280 2,200 0.03
ticipate that about 20 percent of its 3,449,600-acre Ohio 26,383,080 179,256 0.68
coal field will eventually be mined. The magnitude Pennsylvania 29,013,120 302,400 1.04
Tennessee 27,036,160 26,760 0.10
of this disturbance will be extremely significant
Virginia 26,121,600 30,800 0.12
locally, and could have far-reaching effects na
West Virginia 15,475,840 192,000 1.24
tionally. Pollution resulting from mining affects
Total 227,362,280 832,605 0.36
thou ands of miles of rivers and streams (Kinney,
2
Figure 2.-Bulldozer clearing mine pit by pushing spoil over the edge, Campbell County, Tennessee.
A commonly overlooked effect of strip and sur by highwall , or a total of 1.5 million acres seriously
fa e mining is the tremendous acreage of lands affected by smfa e mining in Appalachia.
n1ade inaccessible to wildlife by contour strip op The problem a so iated with strip and surface
eration . In ' est Virginia alone there are more mining-acid pollution, sedimentation, siltation,
than 411,000 acres of land esentially iolated to de·u·uction of ae tbeti value, etc.-are not new.
most animals b highwalls thrown around hilltop. Relatively few action program for the alleviation
during mining (fig. 6). tate authorities recognize of problems have be n undertaken and, except for
192,000 acres of land eli turbed by surface mining; revegetation of mine poils in some areas, those
to this should be added the 411,000 acres for a undertaken have seldom reclaimed the land (fig.
total of somewhat more than 603,000 acre which 7). Coal is a valuable mineral, and in mining
have been disturbed or isolated. Similar conditions State it is a ·ignificant and ssential part of the
prevail, to varying legrees, in at least four other economy; however, the public is becoming better
Appalachian States. informed and highly con cious of the need for
In addition to the diswrbed area given in table insuring that utilization of one natural resource
1, it i estimated from topographi maps that an shall not result in permanent de tru tion of or
additional 700,000 acres of land are left isolated damage to others (U . . Foret Service, 1962).
3
Figure 3.-Multiple contour stripping in northeastern Bell County in Kentucky. Note slides from overloaded
spoil banks.
EFFECTS OF STRIP AND SURFACE MINING
ON FISH AND WILDLIFE
Acids change the water qual it of . tream. into
Strip and urface mining in the ppalachian which they arc discharged, affecting fish and wild
region i , in mo t instance , detrimental to both life in . c,·eral ways. The acicl. may be present in
fish and game resources. During anivc mining such concentrations as to be directly lethal; they
there is omplete destruction of terre trial and may be harmful bccallSC of anions of high toxicity,
aquatic habitats at the mining ite, and offsitc dam or have m<Jrkcd toxic properties as dissociated
ag s can be far reaching. Jn Appalachia, seven molecules; and the ' ma · bring about changes in
tate reported that water have been polluted by condition of ex istencc <1 ncl rate of growth of fishes
acid mine wa te -see table 2. Thi table does not
separate the sources of acicl drainage, but . tates
reponed that 10 to 25 percent of this pollution Table 2.-Potential fish and wildlife waters
originates in strip mines. Many inve tigation · have deleteriously affected by acid mine pollution
been made to clocumen t the seriousness of acid (Adapted from Kinney, 19611
pollution, siltation, and :cclimentation that result
,\1 ilc' or Acres of Mineral'
from ~urface mining. It is perhap· appropriate to 'ilale 'llean1 in1p0undmen1 mined
summarize the effects of these pollutants on fish
Penn ylvania 2,906 10,100 Coal.
and wildlife populations. We 1 irginia 1,150 3,533 Coal.
Kemucky 580 Coal.
Acid pollution Ohio 278 192 Coal.
i\linc drainage is rcnclerccl acid by chemical and Tennessee 125 Coal. copper,
po sibly biochemical reactions involving- water, pho phorus,
Maryland 83 Coal.
oxygen, and sui ph ur in pyrite, marcasite, and other
Virgini;l 10 Copper, zinc.
mineral· and ore commonly found with coal de
posits ( iclo and Mackenthun, 1963). Total 5,132 13,825 4
4
Figure 4.-Area mining in Pennsylvania. Spoil banks lie in rows parallel with the last cut in the back
ground. (USDA- SCS photo)
(.Jones, 1964; Turner, 1958). Acids also clepre ide or" ellow boy" is only lightly oluble in water;
or prevent reproduction of desirable sport fi he . it coat tream bottom·, de troying natural beauty
The desirabl pH range for fi h in the p- and the habitat uitable for aquatic life (Cordone
palachian r gion i 6.7 ( lightly acid) to 8.6 (alka and Kelly, 1961; \1\arner, 1965). Acid pollution of a
line) ( .S. Dept. Interior, 1965). Although fish stream may also have effect not generally recog
can live for a hon time at a pH of 4.5 (very acid) ni;ed. If water i · too aci I, it cannot be used for
a plllowcr than 6 i unfavorable. Lloyd and Jordan household purpo cs, live tock watering, or indus
(1964) reponed that rainbow trout died at a pH trial tts , without expensive treatment. ·wildlife,
of 1.1 in of1 water. Jonc (1964-) found that trout unwillitw to drink acid water, is usually absent
egg developed norm all bet ween pH 1 and pH 5 ncar badly polluted area. Iron hydroxide de
but cog diccl at levels below pH 1. Other authors posits in stream channels and lack of desirable
have reported failure or fi h reproduction in waters fish and wildlife in or near acid streams result in
having pH value· below 5.5. decrca · d land value (Parson , 1952) .
In addition to undesirable acid and pH in efflu Silt and sediment
ent [rom strip mines, iron hydroxide is precipi The effects of silt an I ediment on aquatic flora
tated when these waters enter stream·. 1ron hyclrox- ;tnd fauna vary with con entrations of pollutants,
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