Issues: Environmental Justice

All Documents in Environmental Justice Tagged coal

Drinking Water Jeopardized in Arizona's Black Mesa Region
News

An underground aquifer that sustains two Native American tribes in Arizona's arid Black Mesa region is showing serious signs of decline after three decades of pumping by the Peabody Coal Company, which drains more than a billion gallons of water from the reservoir each year to transport coal.

Drawdown: Groundwater Mining on Black Mesa
Report

For more than 40 years, Peabody Western Coal Company has been draining billions of gallons of potable, pristine groundwater from an aquifer under the Black Mesa plateau in Arizona -- water that serves as the primary source of drinking water for the area’s Hopi and Navajo residents. In 2000, NRDC published an assessment of the damage caused by this groundwater mining and determined that the Navajo aquifer showed signs of serious decline after years of pumping by Peabody. This 2006 update to the original report concludes that material damage is still present in Black Mesa and that the aquifer shows signs of continuing damage and deterioration. NRDC also considers the role of the federal government in addressing the damage and recommends actions that would help conserve Black Mesa's water supply.

Documents Tagged coal in All Sections

Limit to Producing "Cheap" Coal Makes Liquid Coal Plans Unworkable
Fact Sheet

While the coal industry has been aggressively promoting the development of a large liquid coal industry in the United States, it is unrealistic to expect that customers could be supplied with domestic coal at reasonable prices. According to the most recent Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook report, if the liquid coal industry grew to the size proposed by industry lobbyists, the United States would have to import coal beginning in just six years. The increased demand created by a liquid coal industry could raise electricity rates as well as increase emissions of global warming pollution, bringing costs that far outweigh the benefits that would come from a large domestic liquid coal industry. Get document in pdf.

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Destroys Communities
Fact Sheet

Mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining is one of the world’s most destructive practices for extracting fossil fuels. This extreme method of strip mining is scarring the landscape and threatening communities. All across Central Appalachia -- between the hollows of West Virginia, bordering the Blue Ridge of Virginia, beyond the bluegrass of Kentucky, and above the smoky vistas of Tennessee -- companies are tearing down mountains to access the coal below. In the process they are clear-cutting miles of forests, filling the rivers with coal mining waste, polluting the waters with toxic runoff, and sacrificing the safety of the people who call this region home. MTR coal mining sites, which can exceed 10 square miles, have already leveled more than 470 summits so far. Get document in pdf.

No More Mountaintop Removal
Action

Across Appalachia, mining companies are wiping out some of America’s oldest and most revered mountains -- along with all that those mountains provide to the natural systems and communities they support. Take action now!

Contaminated Coal Waste
Power plants produce about 130 million tons of contaminated waste every year, and the federal government has failed to regulate it
Overview

Power plants produce about 130 million tons of contaminated waste every year, and the federal government has failed to regulate it

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