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coal mining

Citizens Coal Council’s current work on coal mining issues generally focuses on strip mining, blasting, mountaintop removal, and longwall mining.  For background on these issues, please follow the links below.


Strip Mining
Strip mining is a type of surface mining where the overlying vegetation, rock, and soil (overburden) is removed in order to reach the underlying coal seam, which usually lies a few feet beneath the surface.  Explosives are used to fracture any overlying rock, and then heavy machinery is used to remove the overburden and dump... (read more)


Longwall Mining
Longwall mining was first introduced in the United States in the early 1950s and was more frequently used in the late 1970s. Today longwall mining accounts for about one-third of total underground coal tonnage. This is accomplished because of the increased production from longwall mining, an underground mining technique that removes entire seams of coal... (read more)


Mountaintop Removal
Mountaintop removal mining is an extremely destructive form of surface mining that primarily occurs in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States in which large quantities of overburden (soil, rock, and vegetation) are removed by blasting with explosives and heavy machinery to expose the underlying coal seam.  The overburden is then dumped into valleys... (read more)


Blasting
Blasting is used in surface mining as a method to fracture rock.  The rock is drilled with holes, which are then filled with explosive materials, usually nitroglycerin, then capped with an inert material.  The blast then is set off with detonators that splits the rock and exposes the coal seam, which, in surface mining, usually... (read more)

reports & links

    Coal Mining: General Information

Please visit the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) Watch website for more information on CCC’s watchdog work

    Longwall Mining

A Watershed Primer for Pennsylvania
 (PDF file)

Do headwater streams recover from longwall mining impacts in northern West Virginia? (PDF file)

CCC’s Act 54 Reform Blog

Do headwater streams recover from longwall mining impacts in northern West Virginia? (West Virginia Water Research Institute)

Groundwater as an environmental constraint of longwall coal mining (Northern Illinois University)

Executive Summary of the Effects of Subsidence Resulting from Underground Bituminous Coal Mining Coal Mining on Surface Structures and Features and on Water Resources: Second Act 54 Five-Year Report (California University of Pennsylvania)

Modeling the Effects of Longwall Mining on the Groundwater System (U.S.D.I.)

    Mountaintop Removal Mining

The ACHE Act website


CCC’s ACHE Act page

    Blasting

How to Document Blasting Damage

Ten Steps for Blasting Back Brochure

Strip MiningGroups working on strip mining include:

  • Plains Justice
  • Dakota Resource Council
  • Powder River Basin Resource Council
Citizens Coal Council
130 Friend Road
Washington, PA  15301
Phone: 724.470.3982


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  • Home
  • Issues
    • TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY
    • SUSTAINABLE AND THRIVING ECONOMIES
    • ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
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  • Join
  • About
    • Meet the team
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Blog