Carbon Pipelines Negative T

Environment Turn – Mining

CCS leads to new mining – tanks the environment

Tady 7 - national political reporter

Megan, “Carbon Capture: Miracle Cure for Global Warming, or Deadly Liability?,” Alternet, http://www.alternet.org/environment/68490/?page=4

Even if CCS becomes cheap, and scientists guarantee carbon dioxide will stay buried, some critics still won't be swayed. They say that although CCS addresses greenhouse gas emissions, it doesn't look at the ramifications of mining and shipping coal, and of the pollutants that are still released in the air during burning. Although industry is marketing CCS as a "clean coal" technology, Leonard says the term is a misnomer, and that nothing about coal is clean. "The idea of clean coal never addresses the impact of coal's entire lifecycle," Leonard said. "Coal mining is one of the most destructive environmental atrocities in this country or globally. They only address clean coal at its final stage of combustion at the power plant." One destructive coal mining technique is mountaintop removal, a process where forests are clear-cut and the tops of mountains are blasted away with explosives to expose underlying layers of coal. The method has decimated the mountains and environment of Appalachia and produced devastating impacts on the health of communities. Both Leonard and Kill fear that CCS will only spur more coal mining, not curb it.

Mountaintop mining kills biodiversity—flooding and pollution

Palmer et al. 10 – Director National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center Professor Department of Entomology University of Maryland Professor Chesapeake Biological Laboratory University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (Margaret, “Mountaintop Mining Consequences” Science Journal, January 8 2010, http://www.filonverde.org/images/Mountaintop_Mining_Consequences_Science1%5B1%5D.pdf) MLR
Ecological Losses, Downstream Impacts The extensive tracts of deciduous forests destroyed by MTM/VF support some of the highest biodiversity in North America, including several endangered species. Burial of headwater streams by valley fills causes permanent loss of ecosystems that play critical roles in ecological processes such as nutrient cycling and production of organic matter for downstream food webs; these small Appalachian streams also support abundant aquatic organisms, including many endemic species (5). Many studies show that when more than 5 to 10% of a watershed’s area is affected by anthropogenic activities, stream biodiversity and water quality suffer ( 6, 7). Multiple watersheds in WV already have more than 10% of their total area disturbed by surface mining (table S1). Hydrologic flow paths in Appalachian forests are predominantly through permeable soil layers. However, in mined sites, removal of vegetation, alterations in topography, loss of topsoil, and soil compaction from use of heavy machinery reduce infiltration capacity and promote runoff by overland flow ( 8). This leads to greater storm runoff and increased frequency and magnitude of downstream flooding ( 9, 10). Water emerges from the base of valley fills containing a variety of solutes toxic or damaging to biota ( 11). Declines in stream biodiversity have been linked to the level of mining disturbance in WV watersheds ( 12). Below valley fills in the central Appalachians, streams are characterized by increases in pH, electrical conductivity, and total dissolved solids due to elevated concentrations of sulfate (SO4), calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate ions ( 13). The ions are released as coal-generated sulfuric acid weathers carbonate rocks. Stream water SO4 concentrations are closely linked to the extent of mining in these watersheds ( 11, 14). We found that significant linear increases in the concentrations of metals, as well as decreases in multiple measures of biological health, were associated with increases in stream water SO4 in streams below mined sites (see the chart on page 149). Recovery of biodiversity in mining waste-impacted streams has not been documented, and SO4 pollution is known to persist long after mining ceases ( 14).

Peer reviewed studies prove the laundry list of mining impacts

KTFC.org 11 (“Health Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining” KTFC.org, 2011 http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/health/MTRHealthImpacts.pdf) MLR
Volumes of scientific evidence and data illustrate the harm to human health from exposure to dust and numerous toxins released into the air and water by surface mining. In the last two years alone, peer-reviewed studies by Dr. Michael Hendryx and others have demonstrated that: • people living near mountaintop mining have cancer rates of 14.4% compared to 9.4% for people elsewhere in Appalachia; • the rate of children born with birth defects is 42% higher in mountaintop removal mining areas; • the public health costs of pollution from coal operations in Appalachia amount to a staggering $75 billion a year. These findings are consistent with an earlier account of health impacts related to mountaintop mining, “Mountaintop Mining Consequences,” published in the journal Science in January 2010. According to that study: [G]roundwater samples from domestic supply wells have higher levels of mine-derived chemical constituents than well water from unmined areas. Human health impacts may come from contact with streams or exposure to airborne toxins and dust. State advisories are in effect for excessive human consumption of [Selenium] in fish from MTM/VF affected waters. Elevated levels of airborne, hazardous dust have been documented around surface mining operations. Adult hospitalizations for chronic pulmonary disorders and hypertension are elevated as a function of county-level coal production, as are rates of mortality; lung cancer; and chronic heart, lung, and kidney disease. Health problems are for women and men, so effects are not simply a result of direct occupational exposure of predominantly male coal miners.

Exacerbates environmental and economic damage

KTFC.org 11 – cites Dr. Paul Epstein, physician and associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School (“Health Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining” KTFC.org, 2011 http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/health/MTRHealthImpacts.pdf) MLR
A February 2011 study by Dr. Paul Epstein details the economic, health and environmental costs associated with each stage in the life cycle of coal. In terms of human health, the report estimates $74.6 billion a year in public health burdens in Appalachian communities, with a majority of the impact resulting from increased healthcare costs, injury and death. The yearly and cumulative costs from the mining, processing, transport, and combustion of coal affect individuals, families, communities, ecological integrity, and the global climate. Dr. Epstein says: “The public is unfairly paying for the impacts of coal use. Accounting for these ‘hidden costs’ doubles to triples the price of electricity from coal per kWh, making wind, solar, and other renewable[s] very economically competitive. Policymakers need to evaluate current energy options with these types of impacts in mind.”