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Donald Trump's Efforts To Deregulate The Coal Mining Industry

687 Words3 Pages

Coal Mining Effects
Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump gave thousands of Americans hope when promising he would revive the coal industry. The coal mining industry has been regulated to the point of near extinction, resulting in thousands of job losses for Americans. These regulations placed by the Environmental Protection agency allow for more protection for the environment. Although Trump’s plan to deregulate the coal mining industry is likely to bring prosperity to the economy, it is also likely to bring destruction to the environment. One of the main reasons that President Trump is making efforts to deregulate the coal mining industry is to boost the economy. According to Amy Harder, States like West Virginia rely heavily on the coal …show more content…

According to G. Tyler Miller Jr., When coal mining companies ran without regulations, the environment was not taken into consideration. Mountaintop removal, a type of surface mining, uses explosives to remove the tops of mountains in order to expose the coal that lies underneath. This produces dirt and waste rock that is dumped down the side of the mountain and into the streams below. This rock waste disrupts the flow of streams, increasing flood hazards. Excessive flooding leads to the destruction of native habitats. West Virginia alone has buried more than 560 miles of streams through this method of mining. Wastewater produced by surface mining contains toxic substances such as selenium, arsenic, and mercury. This wastewater often contaminates streams and groundwater systems (Miller). Deregulating the coal mining industry would significantly alter reclamation standards. Reclamation is the restoring of surface mined land by grading it and replacing it. Deregulations would allow for companies to bypass the reclamation process. Part of the aim of deregulating the coal industry is to artificially increase demand, this is done by lessing restrictions on coal burning burning power plants. This would allow for power plants to purchase and use more coal, and in turn emit more CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. In fact, coal is almost pure carbon. When coal is burned, it releases about 25% more CO2 than oil and makes up one third of the world’s annual CO2 emissions (Miller).
Deregulating the coal mining industry would be a plight for the environment because it would increase habitat destruction and

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