water quality

Each protocol, water transparency, water temperature, ph, dissolved oxygen, Nitrate, and fresh water macro-invertebrates,  help determine water quality. Water transparency determines how clear the water is. This is done with a transparency tube or a secchi disk this is to measure turbidity. The reason water wouldn't be clear is that it has certain sediments in it making it look "dirty" or "clean."
    Water Temperature is obviously how how hot or cold the water is. It is also very Important to help hydrology measurements such as dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity. Water temperature is also a way to understand local and global weather patterns. This can affect life in the streams like some fish can only live in cold water where as others can only live in warm. you can measure this by a thermometer.Most aquatic animals live in a 0-32 degrees Celsius temperature. pH is how acidic or how much of a base the water has. It is also the measure of hydrogen ions in the water. Most lakes have a pH scale of 5.5-8.5 and can be measured by a a pH meter. Oceans have a pH of about 8.2. Mining has an affect on water pH as well. It can bring up the pH by a little or a lot. pH has a strong influence on what can live in the water.

     Dissolved Oxygen is a product of photosynthesis. Dissolved Oxygen is what determines what fish can live where, this is very soluble. Most aquatic species need at least 5-6 PPM to survive. 
Nitrate is found only in low dissolved oxygen levels. It is a primary plant nutrient. It uses Eutrophication which it the process of enriching water. this causes plant growth but can cause an odor. 
     Last but not lease Freshwater Macro invertebrates. These are small animals without a back bone i.e.: worms, mosquito, dragon flies, and snails. these animals are sensitive to change. biodiversity is a main thing so the ecosystem can stay in tact.Toxic waste is also a big part in water protocol and quality. The effects aren't always known right away but they are years after. They usually are from big industries and includes organic and inorganic substances. Inorganic substances include arsenic and cyanide. Organic includes DDT, PCB, and herbicides.This also includes heavy metals. E.Coli is normally harmless but they are in the presence of harmful bacteria. It can cause severe diarrhea and kidney problems. Conductivity is what it sounds like. It is how much water conducts electricity. Pure water is a poor conductor of this. It is a measure of a poorly dissolved solid. It is measured in conductivity meters.

against mountain top removal

     Mountain Top Removal is a bad thing because it kills streams, people, and nature. It kills streams by waste coming off of the mountains and covering up the streams. It kills people by giving them diseases that will kill  them sooner or later. And besides the streams it kills all the fish, vegetation, and other animals around. Mountain top removal keeps our state from its full beauty. It does this by destroying our mountains and our natural wildlife and plant life. The coal companies only care about the money still they don't care about what the miners go through just to keep their job. Massey pushed the union out of West Virginia so they can put miners at risk like the Upper Big Branch Mine and they killed all those men because their safety standards weren't up to par and they weren't doing anything about it. They do as little as possible to protect anything other than themselves. This is why they shouldn't be allowed to remove our mountain tops. After they tear off our mountain tops they have to have somewhere to put their waste and so therefore once they dig up that Earth it will never settle the same and moves around so it will never stay were it was put. once they are done with a mountain they reforest it this would be a good thing other than the fact they don't use the type of trees that grow naturally there. This is why we don't need Mountain top Removal.
against coal

for mountain top removal

     Mountain top removal is a good thing because it employs more people. This means more West Virginians working. It employs people by having a person scout out the coal, people to dig out the coal, someone to run all the machinery, and someone to landscape it afterwards. This is hundreds of people working and less people struggling to survive. Mountain top removal is a good thing because they are getting more coal to support a energy hungry nation. If there was no mountain top removal there would be less energy for our nation and people would have to cut back and energy prices would go up. If energy prices go up then more people would complain and then they wouldn't complain as much about mountain top removal.
friends of coal

lillybrook coal camp

located in Raleigh county the Lillybrook coal mine was ran by the lillybrook coal company
  a dime script for Lillybrook
it is now a ghost town.
part of the winding gulf coalfeild is where it is located.
Jan 19, 1930 The Lillybrook coal mine number 1 had an explosion that killed 8 people.
mostly black (demographics) when it was a coal town.

3 types of surface mining

     There are three types of surface mining. They all are on the surface. The three types of surface mining are: Contour mining, mountain top removal, and strip mining.
     contour mining is a type of strip mining that follows a hill. The advantage of counour mining is that it is less dangerous the disadvantage is that there is more erosion of the hill.
contour mining


     Mountain top removal is the next type of surface mining. The tops of hills are removed to access the coal on the inside of a mountain. The over burnden is pressed into other higher areas in the area. The disadvantages of this is that the origianal mountain is not restored after this. This is also very controversial. the advantages to mountain top removal is it is efficient.
mountiain top removal
 

     Strip mining is the final method of surface mining. It is used when coal is near the surface or the overburden is unstable. the advantage is that the dirt removed is placed in a previous cavity. the disadvantage is it is not very economically friendly.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SU012.html

5 methods of mining

     There are five methods of mining as show in session 3 of the WV coal project video. The various mining techniques include drift mining, Shaft mining,
     Drift mining is where the coal seam intersects the surface. How this works is the mine intersects the seam horizontally following the coal. This is mainly used for mountains this is why it is popular in West Virginia. The advantages of drift mining is there is no mountain top removal. The disadvantage is that there is a lot more erosion after the mining is done on the mountains.
http://www.onemine.org/search/index.cfm/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-drift-and-fill-mining

     Shaft mining is the most common form of mining. They use elevators to access the coal. They are typically about 1000 feet deep in West Virginia. The advantage of shaft mining is that it goes deeper and gets out all the coal. The disadvantage of shaft mining is that it isn't as enviromentally friendly when you fill it in after all the coal is out. But it does keep the erosion of the mountain down.
http://www.miningmagazine.com/management-in-action/sinking-skilfully?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=print_friendly


     Room and pillar mining nearly half the coal is left behind to support the roof. Pillars can "squeeze" putting pressure on other pillars and causing it to collapse. The advantages of room and pillar mining is that it is a very cheap way to mine. The other advantages of room and pillar mining is it is fast. The big disadvantage is roof collapses are very common in this type of mining although with the progression of technology, this has become less of a hazard. but still a hazard none the less.
more on room and pillar mining


     Longwall mining is also known as retreat mining. The main way of Longwall mining is they use hydraulic to support the ceiling and do this with huge mining machines. Once the coal is removed the machine retreats and the ceiling collapses behind it. The advantage of this is that it gets a lot more coal out than room and pillar mining. The disadvantage to Longwall mining is that it is very costly.
longwall mining



     Strip mining is mainly used when coal is close to the surface or the overburden is unstable. As mining progresses , the overburden is placed on the previous mine cavity. the advantage to strip mining is less miners would get hurt in case of an accident. The disadvantage is that it isn't as eco friendly and not filled as well as other types of mining techiques.
strip mining

coal formation

Coal is formed when the remainder of a plant in a swamp goes beneath the surface and oxygen is cut off. the plant does not rot but forms peat.Then as the plant turns from peat to lignite. this happens when the absence of oxygen and more carbon is present. then after it forms lignite it turns into one of the many types of coal: Bituminous, anthracite, then coke. This is the way coal is formed.