Introduction
US mining corporations are considered to be a leader in their specific fields. Mining in the US is advanced in terms of technology. It is also safe as it meets the basic as well as advanced safety parameters. Mining companies in the US are also renowned for their innovative improvements that have resulted in lowered production costs. Whenever we talk of mining in the US, we also try and pay attention towards the mining communities that are involved in the entire process. There are several mining communities in the United States and some of the major communities belong to Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. These mining communities have always been involved in numerous cases of ethnic violence and some have even complained of being biased on the basis of sex, class, colour and creed. Here, the discussion would be for and against the mining practice in general (Shuis-Cremer, Walters, and Sichel 8)
Main body
The coal mining practice in the Appalachian Mountains has always been under a scanner and a battle has been on for several years regarding the ban on the ongoing mining activities. The main reason behind this ban is the rapid destruction of natural resources. It has been noticed that in the last three decades, some 2500 square miles of land has been flattened and almost 1,200 square miles of streams have been spoilt. The crusade has been termed as the ‘Mountaintop Removal Mining’ and is lying with the administration in Washington and the matter is now heating up in West Virginia as this is where most of the crusaders are holed up.
There are families that have been staying in these mountains for several hundred years and they have always lived in the lap of Mother Nature. Now, owing to the sudden spurt in mining activities, things have gotten quite out of control and there is a sudden scarcity of natural green lands in an area which was once enveloped in the lap of lush green mountains. This has caused people living in and near the mining areas to be forcibly deprived of their natural landscapes. In the Boon County, a place which produces more coal than any other county in the state and where most of the people make a living through mining, a sudden shift in nature has caused them to sit up and take notice of the rampant mining activities, which if allowed to continue at the present indiscriminate pace, would result in total catastrophe and the local inhabitants may have to loose their land in the act (Cook 65).The dumping of rocks and debris, the presence of waste water and landscaping have destroyed many a homes. Likewise, owing to the excessive use of chemicals during the mining process, the water pollutants have increased four folds and diseases are on the rise as people are still using toxic water from the nearby heavily polluted streams. At the same time, people have been forced to inhale air which is laden with coal dust and smoke resulting from the after effects of mining.
While mining is a major source of occupation in the Appalachian Mountains and it is considered as a bread winner for many families, the environmental impact of rampant mining activities cannot be ignored. If the positive effects of mining are to be looked at, it would not be incorrect to state that it has generated over 20,000 jobs pertaining to coal mining alone, which generates close to $8b a year. At the same time, the state gets almost $400m in taxes from coal mining alone, which in turn happens to be a major source of income for the state. Likewise, owing to the mining job, many more jobs are automatically created that are one way or the other related to the overall process of mining. With over half of the electrical energy being derived from coal in the US alone, the local miners in the area earn twice or thrice the average wages in the country. This helps them buy cars, homes, food and clothing( Schwieder, Hraba, and Schwieder 54). In fact, some of the mining sites which have been recently reclaimed have given rise to an industrial park, a county jail and a NASCAR racing tract. All these are economically viable activities. It is stated that one mining worker is responsible for generating four to five more jobs that are related to the entire mining process.
Higginsit and Gilsonjc argue that the flipside of the mining activities has been the demolition of mountains, the removal of forests, the loss of natural landscape, the forcible evacuation of small communities and the excessive contamination of air, water and land resources (261). Undoubtedly, people have been literally forced to relocate because the noise, air and water pollution created by the mining activity is not a pleasant experience. At the same time, loss of natural resources would slowly lead to global warming. In another recently conducted study in the five mining communities in the Marion County, West Virginia, it was found that respiratory disorders, chest ailments and other diseases were detected amongst adults aged 20 years and above. In the report, it was clearly found that almost all the miners suffered from some of the other respiratory disorder and a few were also suffering from chronic abdominal ailments. Those who were not involved in mining but were staying close to the mining grounds also reported to have suffered from breathing troubles.
Conclusion
In the end, it would not be incorrect to state that while mining helps provide a steady source of income to the family of those who working in mining fields, excessive and rampant mining often leads to chronic health ailments, irreversible damage to the natural surroundings and helps give rise to global warming. Henceforth, there needs to be a law passed which counters such malpractices and ordered the mining groups to execute their task without doing any sort of damage to the surrounding natural environment. One of the main reasons why there needs to be stringent laws against mining procedures is because monetary gains cannot be placed against the overall health of an individual as well as the environment. Hence, while mining should be allowed to take place, there needs to be certain rules and regulations that clearly state that mining activities are to be performed well within the prescribed limits, which in turn safeguard the environment and human population from certain degeneration.
Works Cited
Cook, Samuel. Monacans and Miners: Native American and Coal Mining Communities in Appalachia. New York: Wiley, 2000. Print
Higginsit, Conchranel. and Gilsonjc, Wood. “Population studies of chronic respiratory disease. A comparison of miners, foundryworkers, and others in Staveley”. Br J Ind Med 23.2 (1959): 255-268. Print
Shuis-Cremer, Kinder., Walters, Googy. and Sichel, Henson. Chronic bronchitis in miners and non-miners: an epidemiological survey of a community in the gold- mining area in the Transvaal. Br J Ind Med 24.1 (1967): 1-12. Print
Schwieder, Dorothy., Hraba, Joseph. and Schwieder, Elmer. Buxton: Work and Racial Equality in a Coal Mining Community. America: Iowa State Press, 1987. Print