Mountaintop Removal Mining (TN)
Protecting water quality, forests on Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau
©SELC
The Big South Fork River is beginning to recover from the damage wrought by surface mining 50 years ago.
Coal mining is on the rise in the Cumberland region, with mountaintop removal and cross-ridge mining the coal industry's method of choice. While blasting the tops off mountains to expose the underlying coal seams is cheap and efficient for industry, the practice has devastating impacts on the environment, including impaired water quality in rivers and streams, and loss of critical forest habitat.
The New River watershed northwest of Knoxville is particularly vulnerable to the ravages of surface mining. The deep forests are prime habitat for Cerulean warbler - the fastest declining songbird in the U.S. - and numerous other species. And the watershed is the primary drainage for the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. The river is still recovering from strip mining decades ago; mussel populations - a key indicator of water quality - have seriously declined from historic levels.
©SELC 2005
Coal residue, or 'fines,' can be seen along the banks of the Big South Fork within the National River and Recreation Area. The fines are from current mining operations upstream in the New River watershed.
SELC is working with conservationists in Tennessee to ensure that the upper Cumberland's most critical natural resources are not destroyed by surface coal mining. In 2005, we filed a citizen petition asking the federal Office of Surface Mining to designate 284,000 acres of the New River watershed as unsuitable for surface mining. Among other things, we provided extensive evidence to show neither the agency nor the law are effective in protecting the environment from today's mining practices. A 25-acre landslide of a reclaimed strip mine in Scott County, TN in January 2005 created a mud plume that was visible 11 miles downstream at the confluence with the New River, and spilled sediment for months afterwards.
The agency failed to consider the petition, citing procedural reasons. However, we continue to put pressure on state and federal officials to more thoroughly assess impacts of surface mining operations on these outstanding resources - and to fully enforce the law in the meantime.
