Health Effects

Selenium, a toxic nonmetallic element related to sulfur and tellurium, is one of the biggest toxins having negative effects on the environment today because of MTR. High levels of selenium threaten fish survival and reproduction. If they do reproduce, contaminated fish have offspring with serious birth defects. Scientists have found that newly hatched fish have crooked spines and deformed heads due to high levels of selenium. They cannot survive and reproduction will fail, along with an alarming warning that the fish population could potentially become wiped out. This is just one of the negative effects of MTR, many more of them being harmful to people and communities.


Along with the blasting comes an enormous amount of anxiety. Residents describe it as living in a war zone, never knowing when the blast will come and if it is safe to be outdoors. And the chemicals in the explosives have at times formed toxic yellow clouds that hover around people’s homes. Also, flooding is a more common thing due to the wiping out of vegetation and topsoil at the tops of the mountains. Health effects from flooding include the destruction of septic systems, poisoning of surface and ground water, anxiety, homelessness and loss of life.


The air in coal mining regions is frequently filled with coal dust from trucks and trains, as well as ozone and particulate matter from the many coal-fired power plants that are within the region. The most egregious heath effects of coal mining come from polluted water. Mountaintop removal operations have containment ponds that are part of a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System and they feed into streams throughout the region. Coal slurry impoundments and injection of slurry into underground mines leak into ground water. The result is drinking water contaminated with arsenic, iron, lead, selenium, barium and many other metals, plus dangerous organic compounds and chemicals used in the washing process. The health risks of exposure to these chemicals are tremendous, and can travel downstream for hundreds, if not thousands, of miles.


Philadelphia and numerous other cities are taking a stand in order to protect their health and the environment they have to live in. If Mountaintop Removal continues at this rate, there will be many more health risks and effects that will be a great distress to communities. In order to take a stand, and for more information, visit http://mountainaction.org/wordpress. Public policy must change in order to reduce or eliminate the health effects associated with this mining process.