More Bad News If You're a Fish: Mountaintop Removal Is Not Good For You

Although I’ve never been a sport fisherman, one of the things I remember from growing up in West Virginia was the enthusiasm so many of my friends and neighbors had for fishing. Lake fishing and trout fishing were a big deal, with lots of folks out on their boats or standing in their waders waiting for that next strike.

            Well, there is some new research out that demonstrates that mountaintop removal jeopardizes this pastime. Rivers and streams affected by mountaintop mining have only about a third as many fish as rivers and streams that have not been affected by the massive mining technique. Affected streams also have fewer than half as many species of fish than unaffected streams. These are the findings of research conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. The title of the paper, published this week in the journal Freshwater Science, is Temporal changes in taxonomic and functional diversity of fish assemblages downstream from mountaintop mining.

            Some of the data used in the study was collected between 1999 and 2001 by a team from Pennsylvania State University. The USGS collected data for the study from 2010 to 2011. Other recent research had also found fish populations to be negatively affected by mountaintop removal.[i] And still other research found a link between the surface mining of coal and the extirpation of stream benthic organisms.[ii] To me, this research just points out the obvious. Anybody who has spent time around the sulfurous streams around surface mines will tell you that you won’t find many fish in them, and sometimes not much other life, either.

            As with other studies, this scientific work found heightened levels of selenium in the mining affected streams. Previous research, mandated by state legislation in West Virginia, found that high levels of selenium in streams were associated with deformities of fish larvae. In streams with especially high levels of selenium up to 20 percent of some fish species had deformities. This research dovetails with the USGS findings. If a lot of your offspring have deformities, a lot of those deformed offspring will not make it to maturity.

            How much more research is needed to convince people that mountaintop removal is harmful? I fear that nothing besides the depletion of all the viable coal seam in Appalachia will bring about the end to large coal companies blowing up our beautiful mountains. The paper’s press release from the USGS is here. And a hat tip to Ken Ward and his Coal Tattoo blog where I found out about this scientific study.

---

[i] Hopkins, Robert L., and Jordan C. Roush. "Effects Of Mountaintop Mining On Fish Distributions In Central Appalachia." Ecology Of Freshwater Fish 22.4 (2013): 578-586. Environment Complete. Web. 27 Sept. 2013

[ii] Cormier, Susan M., et al. "Assessing Causation Of The Extirpation Of Stream Macroinvertebrates By A Mixture Of Ions." Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry 32.2 (2013): 277-287. Environment Complete. Web. 3 July 2014.

From Coal Tattoo: EPA Approves Industry-Backed Selenium Rule For Kentucky

EPA approves industry-backed selenium rule for Ky.

Another blog from Ken Ward and his Coal Tattoo. Apparently bowing to pressure from the coal industry, the EPA is allowing Kentucky to lower the standards of how selenium is measured in streams.

            Surface mining for coal, particularly mountaintop removal, raises the level of selenium in nearby streams, and this can harm ecosystems. West Virginia wants weaker standards. We'll see if the same thing happens there.

UPDATE 12/13/13: Today the Sierra Club, along with other community and environmental groups sued the EPA to keep these weaker standards in Kentucky from going forward. The text of the full complaint can be found here.

Weaker Standards For Selenium on the Horizon For West Virginia: House Passes Law Allowing For Weaker Standards Today

Well, it looks like West Virginia will be changing the standards for selenium in its rivers and streams. The West Virginia House of Representatives approved the legislation that would allow for weaker standards today. The bill has the votes in the State Senate, and Governor Earl Tomblin has said that he will sign the legislation.

            Even considering the state of politics in the Mountain State, it’s at least somewhat surprising that the bill received no opposition in the House, passing with a vote of 99 to 0. Isn’t there at least one representative in West Virginia who is not totally beholden to Big Coal? Not one representative to consider the health of his constituents or the life in the streams and rivers of his state?

            Of course the anti-environmental rhetoric that has been fueled by big business and the GOP crops up in this debacle and makes one’s head spin. The West Virginia House Judiciary Chairman, Tim Miley, said the bill should be passed “so that the coal industry is not crippled.” It's hard for me to think of an industry that has been able to eviscerate the United Mine Workers union and rip off the tops of hundreds of West Virginia’s mountains with impunity as being crippled.

            Miley referred to “punishing fines” on the coal industry for violations of existing selenium standards. Well, a fine is intended to be punishing. That the coal companies have been allowed to pay such small fines for serious violations of safety and pollution for too long is the real crime.

Big Coal Wants Weaker Selenium Standards For West Virginia's Waters

A coal industry sponsored bill in West Virginia, considered by that state’s House of Representatives, would allow West Virginia to disregard federal recommendations and set its own standards for the amount of selenium that can be released from coal mines.

            Selenium occurs naturally in the environment. A little bit of it is very good. Your body uses trace amounts of the element to make antioxidants, which can fight off cancer. The thyroid gland also uses selenium. There are foods rich in selenium. Bacon has lots of it, so does shrimp. Like a lot of things, you can also get too much selenium. Too much selenium can give you bad breath. Much more can cause kidney and liver problems. Too much selenium can kill you, too.

            Selenium affects animals as well. A 2010 study of the streams of West Virginia, mandated by state legislation, concluded that high levels of selenium were associated with deformities of fish larvae. In some streams that had high selenium levels, 20 percent of some fish species had deformities.

            Most likely because of the recent lawsuits it has faced over selenium pollutions, the coal industry wants to disregard the science and allow for much higher selenium concentrations in the waterways of West Virginia. Looking at the scars of the land in West Virginia from surface mining, it’s hard to believe that the coal companies need to have the rules that allow for their large-scale mining operations weekend even further. But that looks to be the case here.