Mountaintop Removal Mining (TN)

Map of petition area
Citizens seek petition
Impacts to National River and Recreation Area
Impacts to Cerulean warbler habitat
Impacts to public recreation

Environmental impacts from increased coal mining threaten Tennessee natural resources

• Coal mining is on the rise in Tennessee, particularly in the Cumberland Mountains. The Tennessee Valley Authority, for example, is assessing the potential of mining an estimated 82 million tons of coal from the Koppers Coal Reserve (Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area). By comparison, only 3 million tons were mined in the entire state in 2002. Mountaintop removal, including cross-ridge mining, has become the industry’s preferred method of mining. While blasting the tops off mountains to expose the underlying coal seams is cheap and efficient for industry, the practice has devastating impacts on the environment, including impaired water quality in rivers and streams, and loss of critical forest habitat.

  ©SELC

  At the confluence, the difference in water quality in the Clear Fork (from bottom) and the New River (from right), is stark. The New River watershed has several active timber and mining operations.

• The federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM), charged with enforcing the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, is not sufficiently protecting the natural resources of Tennessee. OSM’s on-the-ground enforcement has been weak to non-existent. Reclamation, even when done according to the law, too often fails to prevent environmental problems. A 25-acre landslide of a reclaimed strip mine in Scott County in January 2005 continues to deposit sediment into Smoky Creek; the sediment plume created by the landslide was visible 11 miles downstream at the confluence with the New River. The Zeb Mountain Mine, where several landslides have occurred during the active phase of mining, is another example of the failure of both the agency and the law to protect the environment.
• Protecting the landscape and natural resources of the Cumberland Plateau is a top priority for Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. In launching the $10 million Heritage Conservation Trust Fund this year to preserve land across the state, Gov. Bredesen specifically said he wanted to start with the plateau, which he described as “one of the most beautiful and biologically diverse places on the planet….”

Citizens seek a full accounting of coal mining impacts to protect water quality in Big South Fork NRRA and critical songbird habitat

• On November 10, 2005, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Warioto Chapter of the National Audubon Society filed an administrative petition with OSM requesting a comprehensive study of impacts of future surface coal mining in the heart of Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau. The mining law allows citizens to petition the agency to set aside certain lands as unsuitable for surface mining if mining would result in, among other things, significant damage to fragile lands or to important natural systems, including valuable habitat for fish and other wildlife. The Southern Environmental Law Center is representing the two conservation groups on the petition, filed with the OSM office in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• The petition area includes the 396 square miles of the New River watershed, covering parts of Scott, Campbell, Anderson and Morgan counties. It also includes another 47 square miles outside the watershed and within the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area, Sundquist Wildlife Management Area (East) and Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area that are areas of high-quality habitat for Cerulean warbler. The petition covers more area and more issues than most previous petitions due to the high concentration and quality of natural resources at stake, the level of coal mining anticipated, and the growing understanding of the scope of environmental damage associated with surface mining.

Impacts to the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area

• The New River watershed is the largest watershed that drains into the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. Ninety miles of the Big South Fork and its tributaries are federally protected as the 125,000-acre Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. In creating the park in 1974, Congress called for coordinated efforts by federal and state agencies to minimize water quality impacts, including siltation and acid drainage, from mining occurring beyond the park boundary.
• A 2004 study by the U.S. Geological Survey identified the continued deposits of silt and coal fines washing out of the New River drainage into the Big South Fork as a substantial problem. Even so, the Big South Fork is beginning to recover from mining activities that took place 50 years ago. This recovery trend will be reversed if mining of the scale and intensity seen in recent permits is allowed to continue without a comprehensive review by OSM.

Impacts to Cerulean warbler habitat

• The Cerulean warbler is one of the fastest-declining bird species in the U.S., its numbers having plummeted 70% over the last 30 years. This neo-tropical migratory songbird prefers unbroken, mature forests, especially along ridgetops, for its summer breeding grounds in the eastern U.S. Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau provides premier habitat for the bird; some of the highest densities on record of Cerulean warblers have been recorded in the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area.
• This critical forest habitat is unlikely to return after mining has occurred. Current regulations do not require reforestation. Further, conditions at surface mine sites virtually preclude the re-establishment of native forest ecosystems. Those conditions include compacted soil, unsuitable materials used for stabilization, competition from grasses planted to control erosion, damage caused by grazing wildlife and loss of native topsoils.

Public use and economic benefits from outdoor recreation jeopardized

• The recreational opportunities in the Big South Fork NRRA represent an economic benefit to the region in the range of $10-$16 million annually. Water of sufficient quality and quantity is vital to all users from horseback riders to boaters.
• Surface mining in the petition area would severely diminish the outdoor experience of hikers, hunters, anglers and other visitors to the nearby public lands, including the Cumberland Trail State Park, a featured highlight of Tennessee’s tourism efforts. Moreover, surface mining on the steep and unstable slopes that dominate the area poses a clear risk to public safety.

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November 2005