ipl-logo

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

Show More
Related
1313 Words | 6 Pages

This industry not only provides the populous with inexpensive power but also creates a steady employment option. Besides an increase in the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, the mass accumulation of coal ash and its leaks and spills into local rivers negatively affect the environment (“Energy-Related”). According to Earthjustice, “North Carolina generates over 5.5 million tons of ash per year” ("Coal Ash Contaminates”). In Eden, N.C. in 2014, the largest coal ash spill occurred, releasing 39,000 tons into the Dan River, which supplies drinking water to surrounding communities, a habitat for aquatic organisms, and recreational activities (Gallucci). Coal ash, also known as coal combustion residuals or CCRs, contains hazardous byproducts from power production, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and chromium, that can poison drinking water sources for humans and devastate wildlife habitats (“Coal Ash Basics”).

Read More
1593 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the centuries, humans have been attempting to find a way to power homes, cars, and other luxuries in the most efficient way possible. Coal and oil were two major sources that begin being exploited during the industrial revolution. Both have caused great controversy over the years from lawsuits to strikes. A new way to drill oil, hydraulic fracturing, was discovered and was an efficient means of drilling until its effects became prevalent. Also, when coal began to run out, a new method called mountaintop removal took hold, but continues to damage the earth.

Read More
882 Words | 4 Pages

With coal mining comes the stripping of mountains, also called mountaintop removal. This is the act of blasting and stripping miles of mountain and forest to gather enough coal for the coal plants. One form of energy that could prevent the landscape from suffering is using Hydroelectric power. Hydraulic power or Hydropower uses the energy from water when the H2o moves the turbines to create the electric energy that is then sent to power grids and then homes or workplaces. Hydropower is made when the water being held in a reservoir is passed through turbines turning the kinetic energy of the water into mechanical energy when the water's force moves the turbines.

Read More
475 Words | 2 Pages

This source presents research and case studies to acknowledge that this debate of job creation vs environmental regulation is complex and need to be analyzed and interpreted from many different angles to realize the various effects created by these two opposing viewpoints. One study shows how the Clean Air Act caused a job loss of 600,000, but at the same time, reduced the infant mortality rate and increased housing prices, thus creating a wealth effect for the real estate market. It is mentioned that one data point (such as job loss, improved health, etc..) should not

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Since we were using up a massive amount of coal each year, we would have less cleaner air, a chance of the smoke in the air to start forest fires, and many other variables that would come into play. Also, using coal for multiple machines in a factory can be very hazardous. The machines could malfunction, causing an overload in energy which could end in an explosion. The air in the factory would also be basically fatal if not wearing the right protection. And if not using things like airlocks (which they didn’t have) it could spread to outside air and then animals would breath in the toxic air then die.

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

Extracting such large amounts of coal at a time can create areas of problem for the land above ground. This can damage structures or buildings. Longwall mining can increase sulfate levels in water as well as disrupt animal habitats. The cons may be harmful, but the amount of income and jobs provided by this method overrule the

Read More
49 Words | 1 Pages

1. Even though fracking reduces carbon emissions, it is still harmful to the environment. For example: water pollution/contamination. There can be accidental seeping of the chemicals (possibly carcinogenic) and can contaminate groundwater around the site due to bad practice (this imposes harm to both the ecosystem and people 's health).

Read More
770 Words | 4 Pages

Republicans from the House Energy and Commerce Committee blame regulations created by the Environmental Protection Agency as the cause of coal communities suffering. Coal in many parts of the state is processed through underground mining. Underground mining is the utilization of machinery to create tunnels under the surface of the land. Underground mining is a practical form of engineering, the process of underground mining extracts coal as the machinery goes deeper into the earth’s surface, the coal is then placed carried to the surfaced through a “combined system of vehicle haulage and conveyor belts” (Mining 2012). West Virginia is one of the leading producers of coal in the United States, but with the collapse of both coal usage and prices it has created a financial crisis for the states coal based counties.

Read More
1059 Words | 5 Pages

In the first edition of this book called Coal Energy Systems written by the same author as Clean Coal Engineering Technology (Second addition) says that coal is the main energy source in the United States. The start of the second edition says that coal is the largest source of fuel in the world and exists in about 70 different countries. Coal can generate as much electricity as all the other energy sources combined and in the United States, coal is the abundant energy source. Coal has a big history of producing many pollutants into the atmosphere and has been contributed to many health problems. An act was put in place called The Clean Air Act Amendments if 1970.

Read More
179 Words | 1 Pages

Introduction Mining is the extraction or removal of minerals and metals from the Earth, and the world market is expanding for mineral commodities. Chrome, cooper, coal, diamonds, gold, iron, manganese, nickel, silver, and zinc are just some examples of what is mined (Blight, 2011, p. 77). Mining is a money generating business that flourishes, in addition to governments receiving money from mining revenues; however, the effects of mining are often very damaging to the environment. As one of the foremost contributors of deforestation, trees and vegetation are cleared or burned, for the purpose of mining. Mount Polley Incident and Environmental Impact

Read More
499 Words | 2 Pages

CONCLUSION In conclusion fracking has major impacts on our lithosphere that is not entirely good. While the impacts may have minor to some it still has a harmful effect. Fracking has impacts on the environment the same way it has on us, if fracking affects the environment the environment will affect us by air impacts, water and many more ways.

Read More
1311 Words | 6 Pages

The widespread destruction of the environment resulting from the gold rush, the neglect of the miners, and the decisions of investors to decimate the land for profit is thus

Read More
657 Words | 3 Pages

The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli which was originally “distributed in 1513” (Machiavelli), is a formal discourse over how a leader will obtain and preserve government power with their subjects and the realm of which they rule. Machiavelli’s Qualities of the Prince emphasizes on what makes a good leader, and he especially claims that a prince should “make himself feared in such a manner that he will avoid hatred” and if “he must take someone’s life, he should do so when there are proper justification and manifest cause,” “but, above all, he should avoid the property of others.” Because a new prince has to use force to establish order, he cannot avoid acquiring a reputation for cruelty, Machiavelli insists, though he admits that it would be best for a leader to be both feared and loved, and that a leader could be both feared and loved if he succeeded in establishing and maintaining order where there had been none. However, since it is difficult to be both loved and feared, Machiavelli cautions, it is safer

Read More
1136 Words | 5 Pages

Counties with mountaintop mining show higher mortality rates and poverty rates compared to counties that lack mountaintop mining within the same states (Hendryx). Mountaintop mining also results in, “depressed property values, employment declines and volatility, and foregone alternative economic opportunities (Hendryx). Surface mining jobs require much fewer employee hours per ton of coal than other mining methods and as a result the number of mining jobs within the Appalachian region has decreased by more than 50% between the years 1985 and 2008 (Hendryx). Companies and other potential sources of employment are unlikely to develop businesses in these areas. Residential areas affected by mountaintop mining lose their property value as coal dust and water pollution make the properties undesirable for living.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

The Ok Tedi Copper Mine Define the main forms of pollution and resource depletion and identify the major problems associated with each form. The main type of pollution at the Ok Tedi Copper Mine is the discharging of mining waste into the Ok Tedi River in Papua New Guinea. The pollution problem began in 1984 following the collapse of a tailing dam used by the company that was responsible for mining copper and gold at the site. By 2000, more than 90 million tons of mine waste had been released into the river and destroyed tens of villages, farms, rainforests, and fisheries downstream.

Read More

More about Donald Trump's Efforts To Deregulate The Coal Mining Industry

Related Topics

Open Document