9781422285534

62 Coal

leftovers, 23, 29, 33, 52 lignite (brown coal) carbon content and heat (BTUs), 15 formation of, 12–13 open-pit excavation, 42 liptinite macerals, 16 liquid waste, open-pit coal mine, 50 longwall mining, 24–25 Ludlow striker’s massacre (Colorado), 40, 41 macerals, 9, 16 magnetometers, 20 “mature” coal, 14 mercury, 7, 16 metallurgic coal, 33–34 methane coal bed methane, 35 coal seam methane, 35–36 firedamp, 13, 52–53 greenhouse gas emissions, 47–48, 52–53 sniffers, 53 synthetic natural gas (SNG), 36

noise pollution, 51 subsidence, 46, 51–52 surface mining, 51, 52 underground (deep) mining, soil heaps, 46, 51–52 water pollution from coal mines, 51, 52 mining, types of room-and-pillar mining, 25–26 surface mining, 18, 21–23, 50 underground (deep) mining, 23–25, 26, 46, 51–52 mining disasters, 53, 54 modern coal mines, 25 modern trends, 38, 43–44 automation, 38, 43 exportation trends, 43–44 fracking, 38, 43 Monongah Mine (Canada), 53 Morden Mine (Vancouver Island), 15 mountaintop removal (MTR) or mountaintop mining (MTM), 23, 51 natural gas, 7, 35, 43. See also methane as “bridge” energy source, 54 synthetic natural gas (SNG), 36 noise pollution, 51 Obama, Barack, 43 “old” coal, 14 open-pit mining, 23, 24, 42 lignite (brown coal), excavation, 42 liquid waste, environmental impact, 50 overburden, 21, 23 Paleogene Period, 16 panel mining, 24–25 Pearl Street Station (New York), 39 peat carbon content and heat (BTUs), 15 formation of, 12–13 Pennsylvanian period, 11 pollution. See also greenhouse gas emissions noise pollution, 51 water pollution from coal mines, 51, 52

Mexico, 14, 38 millipedes, 11 miners, strikes by, 41, 43 mining, 18–26 automation, 38, 43 boreholes, 18, 20–21 coal seams, 19, 21, 22–23, 25

dangers, 40–43 disasters, 53, 54 finding coal, 19–20 labor disputes, 40–43 labor trends, 43 leftovers, 23, 29, 33, 52 modern coal mines, 25

overburden, 21, 23 spoil, 23, 29, 46, 52 strikes by miners, 41, 43 tailing, 29, 52 test boreholes, 20–21 mining, environmental impact, 51–53 dust, 40, 51, 53 mining disasters, 53, 54