The environmental price tag on a ton of mountaintop removal coal.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lutz BD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770658 | biostudies-literature | 2013
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The environmental price tag on a ton of mountaintop removal coal.
Lutz Brian D BD Bernhardt Emily S ES Schlesinger William H WH
PloS one 20130911 9
While several thousand square kilometers of land area have been subject to surface mining in the Central Appalachians, no reliable estimate exists for how much coal is produced per unit landscape disturbance. We provide this estimate using regional satellite-derived mine delineations and historical county-level coal production data for the period 1985-2005, and further relate the aerial extent of mining disturbance to stream impairment and loss of ecosystem carbon sequestration potential. To mee ...[more]
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