Rituparna Goswami Pande,
Our earth has been marauded in the name of coal mining since thousands of years now with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. Archaeological evidence in China indicates surface mining of coal and household usage after approximately 3490 BC.
However, initial coal extraction was small-scale but mining gained momentum during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was mainly used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity. Compared to fuel from wood, coal yields a higher amount of energy per mass and can often be obtained in areas where wood is not readily available. Today coal is primarily used as fuel to generate electric power, certain types of coal are used for metallurgical processes like forging steel, smelting metals and also to provide heat for individual homes.
Till date coal mining continues as an important economic activity but it has begun a downward trend due to the increasing awareness among people regarding its strong contribution global warming and environmental issues.
The late 20th century, saw coal being replaced in domestic as well as industrial and transportation usage by oil, natural gas or electricity produced from oil, gas, nuclear power or renewable energy sources. As a result of which by 2010, coal produced over a fourth of the world’s energy.
Since 1890, coal mining has also been a political and social issue. Since 1970, environmental issues have become increasingly important, including the health of miners, destruction of the landscape from strip mines and mountaintop removal, air pollution, and coal combustion’s contribution to global warming.
Coal mining effects our environment adversely it is associated with the degradation and destruction of natural resources and the destruction of habitats. Mining can contaminate soils over a large area. Agricultural activities near a mining project may be particularly effected.
According to a study commissioned by the European Union:“Mining operations routinely modify the surrounding landscape by exposing previously undisturbed earthen materials. Erosion of exposed soils, extracted mineral ores, tailings, and fine material in waste rock piles can result in substantial sediment loading to surface waters and drainage ways. In addition, spills and leaks of hazardous materials and the deposition of contaminated windblown dust can lead to soil contamination.”
Human health and environmental risks from soils generally fall into two categories: (1) Contaminated soil resulting from windblown dust, (2) soils contaminated from chemical spills and residues. Fugitive dust can pose significant environmental problems at some mines. The inherent toxicity of the dust depends upon the proximity of environmental receptors and type of ore being mined. High levels of arsenic, lead, and radionucleides in windblown dust usually pose the greatest risk. Soils contaminated from chemical spills and residues at mine sites may pose a direct contact risk when these materials are misused as fill materials, ornamental landscaping, or soil supplements.
Another impact is deforestation and loss of fauna and flora.
Water quality also degrades if appropriate steps are not taken, despite measures being taken to release the chemical waste into the nearby rivers through pipes, a large amount of chemicals still leak out onto the land. This changes the chemical composition of the land. Besides this, since the chemicals are poisonous, they make the soil unsuitable for plants to grow.
Pollutants buried are released to the environment creating severe environmental pollution. Toxic chemicals and acidic water are found during and after mining contaminating the environment
Nowadays, environmental protection is enforced before and after mining. The operation to extract useful substances from the ground has negative impact on the land and soil, but the introduced “pollutants” can be neutralized or removed during and after mining activities. The land should be returned as clean as it was before mining started. That was not the case 20 to 30 years before the present.
Mining requires large areas of land to be cleared so that the earth could be dug into by the miners. For this reason, large-scale deforestation is required to be carried out in the areas where mining has to be done. Besides clearing the mining area, vegetation in the adjoining areas also needs to be cut in order to construct roads and residential facilities for the mine workers. The human population brings along with it other activities that harm the environment. For example, various activities at coal mines release dust and gas into the air. Thus, mining is one of the major causes of deforestation and pollution.
The forests that are cleared for mining purposes are home to a large number of organisms. Indiscriminate clearing of the forests leads to loss of habitat of a large number of animals. This puts the survival of a large number of animal species at stake. The cutting down of trees in itself is a big threat to a number of plants, trees, birds and animals growing in the forests.
Imagine the plight once faced by Assam’s largest contiguous patch of rainforest in this context. Its existence was put at stake, huge chunks of this pristine rainforest got burnt in the pyre of coal mining that has been going on for decades now. Coal mining along with other human activities resulted in fragmentation of this extensive rainforest patch of Assam, an irreparable damage to this natural treasure. It is almost heart rending to relate to the plundering of this beautiful forest in the name of mining legal or otherwise. Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is spread over 111.19 sq km, and is one of India’s last lowland evergreen rainforests. The landscape is idyllic despite the the steep fight of survival fought by this forest against mining, which turned a huge part of it into unrecognisable waste land. The surviving rainforest patch with its green canopy of trees dominated by towering Hollong, Mekai and Nahar trees,etc is a little paradise itself. The Burhi Dihing river passing through the forest forms little sand islands that are popular with migratory roosting birds. The sanctuary is also home to the Asian elephant.
The hazardous mining activities though inevitable for economic development, result in drastic disturbances of land. The disturbances include mining dumps, tailings and slimes, compaction, heavy metal toxicity and acidity. During mining operations overburden materials are removed and dumped in haphazard manner without any consideration for the respective sequence of soil profile. Imagine what harm these have already caused to the rich flora and fauna of the once extensive rainforest cover of Assam which harbors the present day Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary, imagine the species on the brink of extinction and the ones already lost forever.
Ecosystem disruption by mining results in increased nutrient export from the system and depletion of soil carbon pool. Furthermore, disturbance by mining drastically alters the flow of nitrogen through a stable soil-plant-microbial ecosystem. Mining activity causes loss of litter layer, which is an integral storage exchange site for nutrients.
Is coal pushing us to the edge of an environmental catastrophe?
Scientists have been warning us about the imminent dangers of climate change. In a major scientific report issued by 13 United States government agencies warned that “ the damage from climate change could destroy about ten percent off the size of the American economy by century’s end if significant steps aren’t taken to rein in warming.”
Another report from the United Nation’s Scientific panel on global warming found that “avoiding the worst devastation would require a radical transformation of the world economy in just a few years” and the key to that transformation lies in putting a quick end to coal.
The Paris Agreement is a landmark environmental accord that was adopted by nearly every nation in 2015 to deal with climate change and its negative impacts. “The agreement aims to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, while pursuing means to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. The agreement includes commitments from all major emitting countries to cut their climate-altering pollution and to strengthen those commitments over time. The pact provides a pathway for developed nations to assist developing nations in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, and it creates a framework for the transparent monitoring, reporting, and ratcheting up of countries’ individual and collective climate goals.”
At present, 197 countries—every nation on earth, with the last signatory being war torn Syria—have adopted the Paris Agreement. Of those, 179 have solidified their climate proposals with formal approval—including the United States, for now. The only major emitting countries that have yet to formally join the agreement are Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
The Paris Agreement is a historic and landmark piece of international legislation. However, fulfilling its aims depends on all the nations based on their individual needs and demands. Let us study India’s stance in this regard.
According to news reports, India has pledged to produce at least 40% of its power from non–fossil fuel sources and reduce its emissions intensity (emissions per unit of gross domestic product) by 35% by 2030. But with more than 20% of its population (roughly 300 million people out of 1.3 billion) having no access to electricity, the country has a vested interest in expanding its energy infrastructure to improve both its economic growth and the lives of its people.
During the last decade India has constructed many coal-fired power plants to expand its energy infrastructure. The country has large coal reserves (an estimated 87 billion metric tons) and relies heavily on coal for 70% of its electricity and 44% of its overall energy. It is obvious that India has a major role to play in order to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement.
Coal combustion is the largest source (more than 40%) of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the Earth and causing other climate-related changes. The leaders of the nations have a very important responsibility to shoulder , they need to adopt new policies and close down coal-fired power plants and promote renewable and carbon-free power sources such as wind, solar and hydropower. Now the ball is in the court of our leaders.
A case in point in this context is a Kenyan company Sanivation , which is putting waste to work by making human waste briquettes. These briquettes made of human faeces are providing Kenyans an environment friendly and sustainable alternative to firewood and charcoal. It is called the “Mka kwa jamil” which means charcoal for the family, these briquettes burn twice as long as charcoal and have about a third of the emissions.
Human thirst is squeezing our earth dry, how long will this exploitation continue until we burn to ashes in its wrath, a taste of which we are already experiencing in the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic.
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