Mountaintop Removal Mining Research Articles

Mountaintop removal mining and multiple illness symptoms: A latent class analysis

BackgroundMountaintop removal mining has been associated with multiple types of disease outcomes for populations living nearby. The current study tested whether latent classes identifying people with symptoms from multiple organ systems were associated with residence in mountaintop mining communities. MethodsWe used data from three cross-sectional household community surveys conducted in three Appalachian states (N = 2756). The surveys contained information on 29 recent illness symptoms grouped into eight organ systems (respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, skin, eye-ear-nose-throat, neurological, and other.) We identified latent classes, and then tested whether classes with higher probabilities of multiple symptoms would be associated with residence in mountaintop removal areas after control for covariates. ResultsThree latent classes were identified, including a low-symptom referent class, an intermediate class, and a class with high symptom probability across organ systems. Controlling for covariates, latent classes characterized by intermediate and high multi-symptom probabilities were significantly associated with residence near mountaintop removal mining, with the highest odds ratio for the MTR versus control condition for the high multi-symptom group (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.80–2.61). ConclusionsSymptoms across multiple organ systems were related to residential proximity to mountaintop removal mining. Prior research has established multiple environmental contaminants related to mining that may contribute to poor population health through more than one exposure route or chemical of concern.

Mountaintop removal mining alters stream salamander population dynamics

AbstractAimPopulation dynamics are often tightly linked to the condition of the landscape. Focusing on a landscape impacted by mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR), we ask the following questions: (1) How does MTR influence vital rates including occupancy, colonization and persistence probabilities, and conditional abundance of stream salamander species and life stages? (2) Do species and life stages respond similar to MTR mining or is there significant variation among species and life stages?LocationFreshwater and terrestrial habitats in Central Appalachia (South‐eastern Kentucky, USA).MethodsWe conducted salamander counts for three consecutive years in 23 headwater stream reaches in forested or previously mined landscapes. We used a hierarchical, N‐mixture model with dynamic occupancy to calculate species‐ and life stage‐specific occupancy, colonization and persistence rates, and abundance given occupancy. We examined the coefficients of the hierarchical priors to determine population variation among species and life stages.ResultsOver 3 years, reference sites had greater salamander abundances and were occupied at a much higher rate than streams impacted by MTR. At sites impacted by MTR mining, most salamander species and life stages exhibited reduced initial occupancy, colonization rates, persistence rates and conditional abundance relative to reference stream reaches. Furthermore, the rates in MTR sites showed low variance, reinforcing that species and life stages were responding similar to MTR.Main conclusionsSalamander populations in landscapes modified by MTR mining exhibited significantly reduced vital rates compared to reference sites. Yet, similarity in responses across species suggests that management or restoration may benefit the entire salamander assemblage. For example, reforestation could reduce landscape resistance, repair altered hydrologic regimes and allow for higher rates of colonization and persistence in streams impacted by MTR.

Climate Change and Mountaintop-Removal Mining: A MaxEnt Assessment of the Potential Threat to West Virginian Fishes

Accounts of species' range shifts in response to climate change are rapidly accumulating. These range shifts are often attributed to species tracking their thermal niches as temperatures in their native ranges increase. Our objective was to estimate the degree to which shifts in water temperature driven by climate change may increase the exposure of West Virginia's native freshwater fishes to mountaintop-removal surface coal mining. We projected midcentury shifts in habitat suitability for 9 non-game West Virginian fishes via maximum entropy species distribution modeling, using a combination of physical habitat, historical climate conditions, and future climate data. Modeling projections for a high-emissions scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5) predict that habitat suitability will increase in high-elevation streams near mountaintop mining sites for 8 of 9 species, with increases in habitat suitability varying from 46% to 418%. We conclude that many West Virginian fishes will be at risk of increased exposure to mountaintop mining if climate change continues at a rapid pace.

Responses of Terrestrial Herpetofauna to Persistent, Novel Ecosystems Resulting from Mountaintop Removal Mining

AbstractMountaintop removal mining is a large-scale surface mining technique that removes entire floral and faunal communities, along with soil horizons located above coal seams. In West Virginia, the majority of this mining occurs on forested mountaintops. However, after mining ceases the land is typically reclaimed to grasslands and shrublands, resulting in novel ecosystems. In this study, we examined responses of herpetofauna to these novel ecosystems 10–28 y postreclamation. We quantified differences in species-specific habitat associations, (sub)order-level abundances, and habitat characteristics in four habitat types: reclaimed grassland, reclaimed shrubland, forest fragments in mined areas, and nonmined intact forest. Habitat type accounted for 33.2% of the variation in species-specific captures. With few exceptions, forest specialists were associated with intact forest and fragmented forest sites, while habitat generalists were either associated with grassland and shrubland sites or were distributed among all habitat types. At the (sub)order level, salamander (Order Urodela) captures were highest at fragmented and intact forest sites, frog and toad (Order Anura) captures were lowest at intact forest sites, and snake (Suborder Serpentes) captures were highest at shrubland sites. Habitat type was a strong predictor for estimated total abundance of urodeles, but not for anurans or snakes. Tree stem densities in grasslands differed from the other three habitat types, and large trees (>38 cm diameter at breast height) were only present at forest sites. Overstory vegetation cover was greater in forested than in reclaimed habitat types. Ground cover in reclaimed grasslands was distinct from forest treatments with generally less woody debris and litter cover and more vegetative cover. It is important to consider the distributions of habitat specialists of conservation concern when delineating potential mountaintop mine sites, as these sites will likely contain unsuitable habitat for forest specialists for decades or centuries when reclaimed to grassland or shrubland.

Conceptual model diagrams as evidence scaffolds for environmental assessment and management

Sound environmental management relies on scientific evidence to indicate whether action is warranted and, if so, which actions will be most effective. We discuss conceptual model diagrams that schematically describe how sources or human activities lead to specific stressors and ultimately to biotic effects. They are useful for describing how undesirable effects are produced and identifying where management actions may be most effective in preventing unwanted effects or improving existing conditions. We illustrate the use of conceptual model diagrams in a literature-based assessment of the impacts of mountaintop removal mining on downstream aquatic systems. The diagram-development process combined extraction and evaluation of research results with iterative refinement of diagrams depicting source-to-stressor-to-effect causal pathways. Conceptual-model diagrams provided a useful scaffold for organizing and synthesizing multiple individual pieces of evidence extracted from different studies and an effective way to summarize and present the evidentiary foundation of the assessment’s conclusions.

Public Engagement and Sustainable Energy Development

Public engagement is increasingly important in ensuring the success of projects related to energy development, particularly with regard to issues of environmental protection, public health, and socio-economic impacts. This is due to concurrent trends in public behavior, including a rise in public interest in these projects that is not matched by a rise in science literacy, and increasing organization and participation of the public through social media, citizen science, and grassroots initiatives. In recent years, several high-profile incidents have demonstrated that when public concern is ignored or met with a passive response from industry, it can rapidly grow into organized opposition that negatively impacts or wholly derails a project. Engaging, listening to, and educating stakeholders during early planning and development phases are therefore essential to earning credibility and trust. Moreover, maintaining two-way lines of communication throughout the lifespan of a project demonstrates social responsibility and facilitates cooperation, acceptance, and even support from communities and others. Positive experiences with specific projects at a local, community level can influence the larger public opinion of an entire industry sector. This paper presents cases studies of public engagement related to shale gas development (including hydraulic fracturing and pipeline construction), mountaintop removal mining, and management of mixed-use watersheds near surface mining operations. The experiences highlighted in these case studies are used to draw best practices of public engagement for sustainable energy development.

Landscape-Scale Disturbance: Insights into the Complexity of Catchment Hydrology in the Mountaintop Removal Mining Region of the Eastern United States

Few land disturbances impact watersheds at the scale and extent of mountaintop removal mining (MTM). This practice removes forests, soils and bedrock to gain access to underground coal that results in likely permanent and wholesale changes that impact catchment hydrology, geochemistry and ecosystem health. MTM is the dominant driver of land cover changes in the central Appalachian Mountains region of the United States, converting forests to mine lands and burying headwater streams. Despite its dominance on the landscape, determining the hydrological impacts of MTM is complicated by underground coal mines that significantly alter groundwater hydrology. To provide insight into how coal mining impacts headwater catchments, we compared the hydrologic responses of an MTM and forested catchment using event rainfall-runoff analysis, modeling and isotopic approaches. Despite similar rainfall characteristics, hydrology in the two catchments differed in significant ways, but both catchments demonstrated threshold-mediated hydrologic behavior that was attributed to transient storage and the release of runoff from underground mines. Results suggest that underground mines are important controls for runoff generation in both obviously disturbed and seemingly undisturbed catchments and interact in uncertain ways with disturbance from MTM. This paper summarizes our results and demonstrates the complexity of catchment hydrology in the MTM region.

Studying Appalachian Studies: Making the Path by Walking ed. by Chad Berry, Phillip J. Obermiller, and Shaunna L. Scott

Studying Appalachian Studies: Making the Path by Walking. Edited by Chad Berry, Phillip J. Obermiller, and Shaunna L. Scott. (Urbana and other cities: University of Illinois Press, 2015. Pp. [xii], 240. Paper, $25.00, ISBN 978-0-252-08083-8; cloth, $95.00, ISBN 978-0-252-03929-4.) Chad Berry, Phillip J. Obermiller, and Shaunna L. Scott have compiled eight essays that evaluate the field of Appalachian studies. The contributors consider Appalachia's past, present, and future from a range of perspectives: history, sociology, regional and rural development, literary criticism, and economics. The collection is thus indicative of how interdisciplinary Appalachian studies has become since its incipiency in the late 1970s. Historians of the American South will find many of these essays informative. Barbara Ellen Smith recaps the significance of representation in this seemingly anomalous region. She calls on scholars to further disrupt the myth of Appalachia as an overwhelmingly white and homogeneous outpost. For Smith, historians must complicate the normative notions of gender and sexuality that have inflected even the most progressive interpretations of the region. While many studies illustrate the complexity of life and demographics in the mountain South, Smith argues that scholars can do more to locate the experience and the resistance of marginalized people who occupy multiple social positions across the region (p. 56). Two essays, one coauthored by Donald Edward Davis and Chris Baker, the other jointly written by Amanda L. Fickey and Michael Samers, survey the history of the dysfunctional development schemes that have defined much of Appalachia's relationship with state and federal governments, as well as nongovernmental organizations. In their sober assessment, Davis and Baker explain how ambitious and mostly well-intentioned programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and other public-private partnerships have yielded mixed results. Fickey and Samers explore the legacy of the Appalachia Regional Commission, still another developmental agency that promised prosperity in the hills. At their best, these programs alleviated poverty within some counties and communities. At their worst, outside developmental efforts reproduced top-down organizational structures and unresponsive bureaucracies, disempowering poor people, aggravating entrenched problems, and perpetuating systemic inequality. As the essays demonstrate, many of the same issues that animated activists and academics at the discipline's founding remain central to it today. With the proliferation of fracking and mountaintop removal mining, understanding the history of environmental spoliation in the region is as crucial as ever. …

Effects of mountaintop removal mining and valley filling on the occupancy and abundance of stream salamanders

Summary Human‐induced land‐use changes are among the primary causes of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. Across central Appalachia (USA), mountaintop removal mining and valley filling (MTR/VF) is the prevailing form of land‐use change and represents a stressor to stream ecosystems. Salamanders are the dominant vertebrate in Appalachian headwater streams. Thus, we addressed the question: Is salamander occupancy and conditional abundance reduced in streams impacted by MTR/VF? We conducted repeated counts of adult and larval salamanders within 10‐m reaches in 11 valley‐filled streams and 12 reference streams in south‐eastern Kentucky. Relationships between occupancy, conditional abundance, and site type (MTR/VF vs. reference) were modelled using the hurdle model (Ecology, 94, 2013 and 1472), where occupancy is modelled separately from abundance while accounting for differences in per‐individual detection probabilities among groups. We found mean occupancy probabilities were >0·85 for all groups in reference reaches, whereas mean occupancy probabilities were relatively lower in MTR/VF reaches (ranging from 0·23 to 0·66). Posterior means of the difference in occupancy between site types were negative across all groups, although MTR/VF stream reaches were at least 95% less likely to be occupied by spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, adult southern two‐lined salamander Eurycea cirrigera and larval dusky salamanders Desmognathus compared to reference reaches. Posterior means of the difference in conditional abundance between MTR/VF and reference stream reaches were negative across all groups; 95% credible interval for difference in conditional abundance covered zero for only one species (red salamander Pseudotriton ruber). After adjusting for goodness‐of‐fit, point estimates of differences in occupancy and conditional abundance still remained below zero for most species. Additionally, MTR/VF reaches had higher ion concentrations, total organic carbon and specific conductance compared to reference reaches. Synthesis and applications. Our study concludes that mountaintop removal mining and valley filling (MTR/VF) reduces salamander occupancy and conditional abundance. Although the potential mechanisms responsible for reduction are numerous, our findings suggest a change in the current regulatory framework is needed to offset the impacts of MTR/VF on stream ecosystems and biota. Reclamation techniques that enhance conditions for vegetative succession within catchments may improve habitat on reclaimed surface mines.

Cardiac and mitochondrial dysfunction following acute pulmonary exposure to mountaintop removal mining particulate matter.

Throughout the United States, air pollution correlates with adverse health outcomes, and cardiovascular disease incidence is commonly increased following environmental exposure. In areas surrounding active mountaintop removal mines (MTM), a further increase in cardiovascular morbidity is observed and may be attributed in part to particulate matter (PM) released from the mine. The mitochondrion has been shown to be central in the etiology of many cardiovascular diseases, yet its roles in PM-related cardiovascular effects are not realized. In this study, we sought to elucidate the cardiac processes that are disrupted following exposure to mountaintop removal mining particulate matter (PM MTM). To address this question, we exposed male Sprague-Dawley rats to PM MTM, collected within one mile of an active MTM site, using intratracheal instillation. Twenty-four hours following exposure, we evaluated cardiac function, apoptotic indices, and mitochondrial function. PM MTM exposure elicited a significant decrease in ejection fraction and fractional shortening compared with controls. Investigation into the cellular impacts of PM MTM exposure identified a significant increase in mitochondrial-induced apoptotic signaling, as reflected by an increase in TUNEL-positive nuclei and increased caspase-3 and -9 activities. Finally, a significant increase in mitochondrial transition pore opening leading to decreased mitochondrial function was identified following exposure. In conclusion, our data suggest that pulmonary exposure to PM MTM increases cardiac mitochondrial-associated apoptotic signaling and decreases mitochondrial function concomitant with decreased cardiac function. These results suggest that increased cardiovascular disease incidence in populations surrounding MTM mines may be associated with increased cardiac cell apoptotic signaling and decreased mitochondrial function.

Nitrogen stable isotopes as an alternative for assessing mountaintop removal mining's impact on headwater streams

Nitrogen stable isotopes as an alternative for assessing mountaintop removal mining's impact on headwater streams

Homogenizing Violence, Isa 40:4 (and Luke 3:5) and MTR (Mountaintop Removal Mining)

With the metaphor of leveling hills and filling valleys, Isa 40:4 presents an image of homogenizing violence toward Earth. This biblical text has been adopted by proponents of Mountaintop Removal Mining (hereafter, MTR). Justification of MTR by explicit reference to Isa 40:4 has occurred principally in response to Christian protests against MTR. The same text has been used by those resisting MTR. This article begins with ecophilosopher Val Plumwood’s critique of homogenization and draws on Paul Ricoeur’s reading of Aristotle on metaphor, to ask if, other than as a crass use as a proof-text for MTR, the application of Isa 40:4 to this destructive practice points to a deeper problem with homogenizing metaphors whose content is other-than-human. While the Isaian metaphor is problematic, it is grounded in the underlying liveliness of its subject. Attention to the liveliness of these biblical mountains and valleys allows that the text, and its metaphors, can also empower resistance to MTR. The liveliness underlying the mountains and hills of the Isaian metaphor can prompt a renewed focus on, and solidarity with, the Appalachian mountains and their communities.

Atmospheric particulate matter in proximity to mountaintop coal mines: sources and potential environmental and human health impacts.

Mountaintop removal mining (MTM) is a widely used approach to surface coal mining in the US Appalachian region whereby large volumes of coal overburden are excavated using explosives, removed, and transferred to nearby drainages below MTM operations. To investigate the air quality impact of MTM, the geochemical characteristics of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) from five surface mining sites in south central West Virginia, USA, and five in-state study control sites having only underground coal mining or no coal mining whatsoever were determined and compared. Epidemiologic studies show increased rates of cancer, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality in Appalachian surface mining areas compared to Appalachian non-mining areas. In the present study, 24-h coarse (>2.5µm) and fine (≤2.5µm) PM samples were collected from two surface mining sites in June 2011 showed pronounced enrichment in elements having a crustal affinity (Ga, Al, Ge, Rb, La, Ce) contributed by local sources, relative to controls. Follow-up sampling in August 2011 lacked this enrichment, suggesting that PM input from local sources is intermittent. Using passive samplers, dry deposition total PM elemental fluxes calculated for three surface mining sites over multi-day intervals between May and August 2012 were 5.8±1.5 times higher for crustal elements than at controls. Scanning microscopy of 2,249 particles showed that primary aluminosilicate PM was prevalent at surface mining sites compared to secondary PM at controls. Additional testing is needed to establish any link between input of lithogenic PM and disease rates in the study area.

Physical habitat and water quality correlates of crayfish distributions in a mined watershed

In mined watersheds, water quality alters aquatic faunas, but few studies have focused on associations between stream habitat and crayfish distributions. We examined associations of water quality and physical habitat quality on presence/ absence of six crayfish species in the upper Kanawha River drainage of southern West Virginia, USA, a region with a long history of surface and mountaintop removal mining of coal. Data supported an association of physical habitat quality with the presence of four species (Cambarus carinirostris, Cambarus robustus, Cambarus cf. sciotensis, and Orconectes sanbornii). Cambarus bartonii cavatus and the non-native Orco- nectes virilis were associated with lower quality physical habitat than that of the other four species. Relative to other species, C. b. cavatus was associated with the lowest conductivity values, whereas O. virilis was associated with the highest conductivity values. Secondary and tertiary burrowers were generally associated with relatively high-quality physical hab- itat. However, C. b. cavatus, a crayfish known to burrow extensively in headwater streams, was associ- ated with the lowest quality physical habitat. Physical habitat quality was generally supported over stream conductivity as a variable influencing crayfish distri- butions. Our data demonstrate the importance of stream habitat quality when assessing crayfish assem- blages within mined watersheds.

Mountaintop removal mining reduces stream salamander occupancy and richness in southeastern Kentucky (USA)

Mountaintop removal mining with valley fills (MTR/VF) is a ubiquitous form of land conversion in central Appalachia, USA and threatens the integrity of stream ecosystems. We investigated the effects of MTR/VF on stream salamander occupancy and overall community composition in southeastern Kentucky by conducting area constrained active searches for salamanders within first-order streams located in mature forest (i.e., control streams) and those impacted by MTR/VF. We found high mean species occupancy across 5 species at control streams, ranging from 0.73 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.96) to 0.90 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.98). Occupancy was lower at MTR/VF streams, with mean estimated occupancy probability ranging from 0.23 (95% CI 0.04 to 0.51) to 0.62 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86). Additionally, the mean species richness for MTR/VF streams was 2.27 (±1.27 SD) whereas richness was 4.67 (±0.65 SD) for control streams. Numerous mechanisms may be responsible for decreased occupancy and species richness at MTR/VF streams, although water chemistry may be particularly important. Indeed, mean specific conductance was 30 times greater, sulfate (SO4) levels were 70 times greater, and concentrations of dissolved ions (Ca, Mg, K, Na) were greater in MTR/VF streams than in control streams. Our results indicate that MTR/VF operations lead to significant decreases in salamander occupancy and species richness.

Abstract LB-297: Mortality trends from lung and bronchus cancer in Boone County, W.V., USA before and after mountaintop removal mining practices

Abstract Publically-available databases (CDC/NCI) report causes of mortality at the national, state and recently, county level. However, county or sub-county-wide health in West Virginia is difficult to assess due to the rural, sparse and isolated nature of many counties. In Boone County, WV, villages are arranged in a narrow, winding valley or ‘hollow’ lying between mountain peaks and situated along a creek or river. This region, rich with subterranean coal seams, has been mined for over 100 years; however, mountaintop removal mining (MTR), which began in the 1980s, now allows for the removal of previously-inaccessible seams by surface mining techniques in the top third of a mountain. Mountaintop removal mining has increased dramatically and current estimates suggest greater than 30 percent of West Virginia’s coal is produced using this technique. For people residing near MTR sites, dust particulates or other mobilized constituents (minerals, metals, coal, or excipients) may present a health hazard by entering the food chain via vegetables or fruit grown in a home garden, through drinking water, or by breathing or ingestion. To evaluate whether the rate of lung and bronchus cancer deaths have changed over the past fifty years, mortality records were examined from 1962 and 1972-3 (before mountaintop mining removal was widely used) and compared with those from 2006-12. The Chi-squared statistic was used to compare the frequency distributions for the rate of lung and bronchus cancer deaths in eight age categories between 1962, 1972-3, and 2006-12. We found the three time periods were significantly different from one another (α=0.005), and that the number of lung and bronchus cancer deaths had increased in those aged 45 years or older. Smoking rates and socioeconomic status within the county have remained relatively constant during the past decade. Taken together societal and environmental changes and medical advances have influenced causes of mortality in this coal-rich Appalachian county. Citation Format: Lynn M. Crosby, Christina DeVera, Kaylene Charles, William Orem. Mortality trends from lung and bronchus cancer in Boone County, W.V., USA before and after mountaintop removal mining practices. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-297. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-297

Jobs, Environmental Controversies, Health, and Activism in the News

Abstract Social movements and collective action have often been studied using newspapers for data. Concerns with newspaper data include selection bias, where a subset of accounts, events, or statements are reported, and description bias, which refers to the veracity of accounts and statements. Bias can be created by intentional or accidental misstatements of events and processes, by type of event selected by journalists, and by characteristics of the reporting entity. In this article, bias and scholarly strategies to address bias are discussed in the context of two West Virginian environmental conflicts; one focuses on mountaintop removal mining and one involves the production of the insecticide methyl isocyanate (MIC). Newspaper data is used to explore what activists say motivates their activism toward corporations causing environmental hazards.

An examination of the effects of mountaintop removal coal mining on respiratory symptoms and COPD using propensity scores

Previous research on public health consequences of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining has been limited by the observational nature of the data. The current study used propensity scores, a method designed to overcome this limitation, to draw more confident causal inferences about mining effects on respiratory health using non-experimental data. These data come from a health survey of 682 adults residing in two rural areas of Virginia, USA characterized by the presence or absence of MTR mining. Persons with a history of occupational exposure as coal miners were excluded. Nine covariates including age, sex, current and former smoking, overweight, obesity, high school education, college education, and exposure to coal as a home-heating source were selected to estimate propensity scores. Propensity scores were tested for balance and then used as weights to create quasi-experimental exposed and unexposed groups. Results indicated that persons in the mountaintop mining group had significantly (p < 0.0001) elevated prevalence of respiratory symptoms and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The results suggest that impaired respiratory health results from exposure to MTR environments and not from other risks.

Multiscale Analysis of Hydrology in a Mountaintop Mine‐Impacted Watershed

AbstractIn the Appalachian region of the eastern United States, mountaintop removal mining (MTM) is a dominant driver of land‐cover change, impacting 6.8% of the largely forested 4.86 million ha coal fields region. Recent catastrophic flooding and documented biological impairment downstream of MTM has drawn sharp criticism to this practice. Despite its extent, scale, and use since the 1970s, the impact of MTM on hydrology is poorly understood. Therefore, the goal of this study was a multiscale evaluation to establish the nature of hydrologic impacts associated with MTM. To quantify the extent of MTM, land‐cover change over the lifetime of this practice is estimated for a mesoscale watershed in southern West Virginia. To assess hydrologic impacts, we conducted long‐term trend analyses to evaluate for systematic changes in hydrology at the mesoscale, and conducted hydrometric and response time modeling to characterize storm‐scale responses of a MTM‐impacted headwater catchment. Results show a general trend in the conversion of forests to mines, and significant decreases in maximum streamflow and variability, and increases in base‐flow ratio attributed to valley fills and deep mine drainage. Decreases in variability are shown across spatial and temporal scales having important implications for water quantity and quality. However, considerable research is necessary to understand how MTM impacts hydrology. In an effort to inform future research, we identify existing knowledge gaps and limitations of our study.

Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Mountaintop mining and valley fill (MTM/VF) coal extraction, practiced in the Central Appalachian region, represents a dramatic landscape-scale disturbance. MTM operations remove as much as 300 m of rock, soil, and vegetation from ridge tops to access deep coal seams and much of this material is placed in adjacent headwater streams altering landcover, drainage network, and topography. In spite of its scale, extent, and potential for continued use, the effects MTM/VF on catchment hydrology is poorly understood. Previous reviews focus on water quality and ecosystem health impacts, but little is known about how MTM/VF affects hydrology, particularly the movement and storage of water, hence the hydrologic processes that ultimately control flood generation, water chemistry, and biology. This paper aggregates the existing knowledge about the hydrologic impacts of MTM/VF to identify areas where further scientific investigation is needed. While contemporary surface mining generally increases peak and total runoff, the limited MTM/VF studies reveal significant variability in hydrologic response. Significant knowledge gaps relate to limited understanding of hydrologic processes in these systems. Until the hydrologic impact of this practice is better understood, efforts to reduce water quantity and quality problems and ecosystem degradation will be difficult to achieve.