Mining and Fracking
Chase Lober & Grey Pfefferkorn
Surface Mining
Strip- Excavation of Earth, rock, and other material to uncover a layered mineral reserve. Usually coal and other sedimentary rocks are mined this way.
Open Pit- Extraction of rock or minerals from an open pit. No tunneling into Earth is required.
Mountain Top Removal- Tops of mountains are removed to expose coal seams.
Effects: Destroys landscape, Higher risk of water contamination
Subsurface Mining
Slope-Mining where a sloping access shaft travels downwards towards the desired material. The mine is not vertical or horizontal like shaft or drift mines.
Drift- Horizontal method of mining usually used when the rock or mineral is on the side of a hill.
Shaft- Vertical mining in which the mine goes straight down from the top where there was initially no access to the bottom.
Effects: Emits greenhouse gases, Causes subsidence, Lowers water table which changes flow of ground water
Fracking
-1-8 million gallons of water and 400 tanker trucks and diesel fuel are used for each fracture site
-40,000 gallons of chemicals per fracture containing 600 different chemicals
-Chemical mixture goes to end of the well where the high pressure cracks the shale rock and natural gas flows into the well
-Gas and chemicals often contaminate nearby groundwater
-Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs) are released into the atmosphere where they create ground level ozone and acid rain