Pro-Mountaintop Removal

1.Coal makes up most of WV's economy- coal money makes up almost all of West Virginia's money. if we got rid of coal mining, it would take a while to get all the money we need from other businesses.
2. Much safer than underground mining- mountaintop removal mining is much safer than underground mining. there is no threat of cave ins because you are above ground and black lung isnt as dangerous because one wouldnt be in such a confined space.
3. Less money to mine- you have to use less machines to mine above ground so there is a less need of money to mine.
4. Creates flat land for a place for other businesses- the flat land left behind by mountain removal can be used as a place to make buildings for any type of business or other type of building.



http://www.friendsofcoal.org/

Coal Camp

The Gary Coal camp was a coal camp in Gary, West Virginia owned by the Flattop Land Association. This coal camp is in the coal field of Flat Top-Pocahontas. This coal camp was named after judge Elbert Gary, and there is even a small coal camp inside of this larger one which is named Elbert. Construction in Gary began in 1901 and by 1915 there were 1,479 miners living in Gary. These miners were particularly diverse including white Americans, African-Americans, Hungarians, Romanians, Italians, Poles, and others of Slavic descent. By World War II, Gary hosted nearly 15,000 residences, boasting 20 churches, 10 company stores, restaurants and independent retail stores, clubhouses and athletic fields. The community also had a bowling alley, tennis courts, theaters and other amenities. The production at Gary began to descend in the early 80's and finally closed in 1986. 


http://www.abandonedonline.net/neighborhoods/gary-west-virginia/
http://www.coalcampusa.com/sowv/flattop/gary/gary.htm
http://www.coalcampusa.com/sowv/flattop/flattop.htm

Post Aerosols Conclusion

Aerosols do effect climate change through the urban heat island effect and greenhouse gases. Aerosols determine how much light gets through to the surface and when more get through and it is in an urban area the heat will get trapped in the area by greenhouse gases and make the area way hotter than it should be.

Surface Mining

There are three types of surface mining: strip mining, contour mining, and mountaintop mining.



Strip mining is when machines and explosives remove a few layers of land that is covering the source of coal. The debris is dumped in an area close to the mining area. This is a quick easy way of mining, but is very destructive. This damages the area and hurts animals and water sources.



Contour mining is done when the seam to the coal is one a slope of a hill and you need to remove overburden to get to it. This is good if you need to get to the seam, but it can lead to landslides since the overburden removed is usually piled up in front of the mining site.



Mountaintop removal mining is what it sounds like. It is removing the tops of mountains and hills with explosives to get to seams for coal mining. It is a very quick method of retrieving coal, but is absolutely awful for the land. The overburden removed from the explosion is placed in valleys by the mountain which hurts animal environments, causes floods, and pollutes water streams.

Underground Mining

There are five types of underground mining: drift mining, shaft mining, room & pillar mining, continuous mining, & long wall mining.

Drift mining is when the mine enters a seam that intersects the surface and goes at a horizontal direction following coal. This is an easy cheap way to mine; but, It can only be done when the situation is right to do so and there is a good chance of roof collapses.



Shaft mining is when an elevator provides access to the mine and an elevator provides a away for the coal to come out. This is good to get all the coal you need, but they can get very deep. This is bad for water and the hot temperatures you can get from being so deep



Room & pillar mining is when pillars of coal keep the roof up for miners to mine the rest of the coal leaving half of the coal behind.



 Continuous mining is when a miner operates a continuous mining machine to mine the coal. This is a highly efficient way to mine.



 Long wall mining is the most efficient mining technique. It is when huge mining machines support the roof with hydraulics and once the coal is removed, the machine retreats leaving behind the coal.

coal formation

Coal is basically old dead plants. 300-400 million years ago some dead plants fell into a swamp and started to become buried in the swamp. With the absence of oxygen the dead plants began to form peat rather than just rot away. Through time, heat and pressure the peat turns to lignite, the lignite turns to bituminous coal, and the bituminous coal turns to anthracite coal. From one stage to another the carbon concentration and heat value continues to go up.

Surface temperatures vs percent transmissions

When looking at these graphs one would notice for the most part when percent transmissions go up surface temperature go down and vice versa. The first part and last part of the first graph contradicts this for some reason though,and I'm not sure of the reason behind this. One would also notice the AOT and surface temperatures go hand and hand.