Strip mining

Funny how an oil spill is considered an environmental disaster and should be removed immediately but if it's there naturally we should leave it alone with no remediation.

I haven't made up my mind on the strip mining yet.  However, don't give an example of strip mining and reclamation from the 1800s as a cautionary tale.  We've advanced a bit since then.  Still, I know how you progressive hate change. 

Can't find anything on pickney strip mines.

Dire, you can take a Sunday drive and see the same thing in a more modern era/

Go North of Nashville into Kentucky to the town of Drakesboro, (just South of Central City - the home of the Everly Bros) and take a right to Paradise - which as we all know "Mr Peabody's coal train has hauled it away".

All along the road, both sides, you will see what used to be pretty mountains , which Mr Peabody decimated, and then reclaimed. As jt said, it looks like a war zone. Go on up to Paradise FP, and turn right and there is a road that goes all the way thru to a highway , but is thru the middle of the working coal mine. Notice the pits with the yellow sulfur water in them close to the plant.
One trip, and you may be able to see if that is what you want for Alabama the Beautiful.

Hmmmm, not a word about TVA.

Why would TVA have a part in this discussion ?

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Your ignorance is appalling!

But yours is legendary!

It sure does make for some good off-road riding, though!

Can energy companies be trusted ?
As of March 3rd, ........., well, you decide

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/0...s_as****_in_florida/

No more, perhaps, than the president who recently was the liar of the year.

The coal from that Peabody strip mine went straight into TVA's Paradise Steam Plant so we could get the benefits of the electricity produced.  It was one of the first places I ever saw one of the 300' tall drag lines used to strip the top soil down to the vein of coal.  Then, the dirt was returned to the ground and smoothed out.

My thoughts about strip mining in NW Alabama are that they may leave behind vast areas that could be planted into farms for cattle and hay.  Have you ever seen the land from Tuscumbia to Red Bay?  It was logged and left in shambles.  Much of NW Alabama along the Mississippi State line is like this.  Would government controlled strip mining actually improve such lands?

Not sure what the President has to do with this.

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I would argue that "smoothed out" is a relative term. Still looks like a war zone to me. Yep, that coal, or at least a lot of it, was sold to TVA.(TVA did not mine it ), However, that is just an example of the effects of strip mining that we can see on a Sunday drive, but it is happening all over the country, in the Appellation Mtns, and elsewhere. TVA gets most of it's coal from the Powder Basin open pit mines, and I have not seen them, but chances are they ain't pretty, and no, I am no fan of coal - I wasn't back in 52 when my dad was building Widdows Creek, but I didn't know exactly why back then, now I know why.

Question really is, is that what we want Alabama the Beautiful (isn't that what they call the state?) to look like Paradise, West Va, or even the Powder Basin ? , and all for what ? For the time being, there seems to be plenty of oil, hell, we're refining and exporting gasoline and diesel. Is that what we want for our state?

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No real connection with the President.  Just another forum space where an Obamaphobe can unload his bilge. 

Not sure what the President has to do with this.

Weed, he usually has better than that post

Simply a comparison of sources of dubious verity.  I've driven thru northern Germany where lignite (brown coal) is strip mined. Nasty looking at the mining site, but quite natural looking in the reclaimed areas.  Although, seeing historic churches and other buildings all alone where villages used to be is unusual.  Lignite is nasty in comparison with out soft black coal.  And, the reason German is out third largest export customer; 

Do I understand correctly, you're against importing raw materials, converting them to finished, value added products and selling them abroad?  No wonder we have such a weak recovery -- Dems against jobs and balance of trade. 

Dire, you need to chill out.  You used to be so much better.  The theme of no, no, no, and hate, hate, hate is getting to you.  Take a few deep breaths and contemplate serene thoughts.  Then, you can realize that this topic was about strip mining. Have a peaceful day

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That's funny coming from you. 

So the mining companies say they will reclaim the land? Sure they will . Just like the timber companies reclaim the land where they clear cut. Or the iron ore companies strip mined in Franklin County. What a joke.

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Wasn't most of the iron mining done in the late 1800s and early 1900s?  In case you missed it, the year is 2014.  Before such mining can be done, environmental impact statements must be done, including how the land will be reclaimed.  Reclamation is possible -- I've seen it, as I stated. Alabama should require the companies to put aside funds solely for reclamation -- a fund that they can't touch, except for that purpose.

JJ, do you have electricity where you live? I assume so, as you post to the internet.  Can't use the telegraph for that. 

I'm  sure it would look like the Garden Of Eden when they got thru with it.

If, the progressives were in charge 35,000 years ago, we'd still be wearing furs, picking ticks off each other and admiring the pristine view from our caves.  No fire, of course, the fool that invented that was burnt at the stake for inventing such a dangerous thing. 

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It falls my lot to disabuse you of your assertion that "Before such mining can be done, environmental impact statements must be done, including how the land will be reclaimed."

That is not the case.

The Surface Mining Commission of the STATE of Alabama regulates strip mining. But the mining of oil-bearing sandstone will be regulated primarily by the Alabama Oil and Gas Board, a STATE agency.. Required air pollution permits and Clean Water Act permits are administered by a STATE agency, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.  The STATE of Alabama does not have any laws or regulations that prescribe the development of an environmental impact statement (EIS) or an environmental assessment (the precursor of an EIS). Some states have laws mandating environmental studies as a prerequisite to approval of environmentally sensitive projects; Alabama,  does not.  The National Environmental Policy Act, a FEDERAL law, prescribes the manner and types of environmental studies (EIS's, Environmental assessments, etc.) that are to be undertaken for projects of federal agencies, activities requiring federal authorizaton, or activities that receive federal funding or other federal assistance.  Since there are no federal permits or licenses or other authorizations or federal assistance associated with this oil sandstone mining, no environmental impact statement is required.  The Oil and Gas Board has not yet completed regulations for this kind of activity.  Thus it is not known  to what extent they will require bonds ("funds set aside for reclamation") although I strongly suspect that bonds will indeed be required.

If you believe that detailed environmental studies of this kind of activity should be required and that substantial bonds should be required to assure reclamation of mined-out areas, then you might wish to pass that recommendation on to your state legislators.

Agreed, now is the time to codify the rules before the thing starts.