Wouldn't surface mining have helped avoid the last mining accident and many like it?

Question

A lot of people are so against surface mining. But the fact is that it is way more safe than underground mining and if the laws were enforced and the companies held responsible, there would be minimal damage to the environment from such activity. Why doesn't the government force the surface mines to clean up their act and continue surface mining instead of dangerous underground mining?

Answer 1

Mining whether its Surface or Underground is dangerous. If you check the stats, this year alone this nation has suffered 20 Surface Mine Fatalities and 14 Underground (not counting the three from yesterday). What the industry needs is a method for tracking where these people are at all times, like a tracking device. Sounds easy but its not, since we live in a society that relies on satellites and these things don't work underground despite what Hollywood shows you.

Answer 2

Deep mining for coal has always been dangerous as the miners have to follow the seam of coal.Thus cave ins and Methane gas are always a possibility.As for surface stripped coal,this is a false economy,as there is as much danger in doing this also( look up aberfan,wales,1966).The men trapped down there are very brave and should be respected as such.

Answer 3

Uh.... the coal in that mine is something like a quarter of a mile deep. Where are they going to put all that overburden? It WON"T stack up nice and neat in a pile the size of your back yard. The cost of removing it would mean that the price of coal would be dramatically higher, maybe enough to make energy from petroleum look cheap in comparison. Are you interested in paying $500-750 a month to heat your house this winter? I'm sure not!

Answer 4

Because the coal that is deep-mined is exactly that...deep (in the earth). It's much easier and cheaper to mine it with this method.