Strip Minings

newUniversityVOL. 4/NO. 12/TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1971 Strip-mining makes violently visible the natureof Americanenergy- consumption, the ripping off of resources. It treats natureas an enemy, an alien state which man must pillage and dominate. Strip-miners replace MINING S nothing,andenter intonorelation with STRIP They merely rip the environment. off. The coal companies disguise their activities from those who have not learned otherwise by pretending to "reclaim" the land. To thosewho have direct knowledge of their rampage RURAL RIPOFF after resources, or who have any conception that man can live in by cal turlock, alternative features service balance with the rest of nature, these claims are a parody. BigMuskie is310 feet talland tears and silver. There as "strippable re- ofspoilhavebeen piledupthis way,the Attemptshavebeen made— ona scant 325 tonsof soiland rock from the earth sources" in every state, and in almost coal is reached, and loosed by dyna- third of thelandaffected on the most with a single bite. BigMuskie can dig every county, and the mining industry mite blasting. The operator need do easily accessible and most easily dis- milesof trenches 175 feetdeep through is circling in; we are on the eve of a nothing more,but simplyhaulhis trea- guised third, of course. These efforts anyone's landscape; he exists to fulfill massacre. sures away and continues around the usually amount to rounding off the this single mission,and he is mechani- Residents of places that have been mountain. spoil banks with bulldozers and cally tireless in his pursuit. area-stripped have referred to the seeding them with one or two cover Big Muskie moves through the hills result as "themoonscapeeffect." Vir- Or he may practice further re- plants which will make some showing of eastern Ohio like some primordial tually nothing will grow on the naked finement, auger-stripping, in which of vegetation. Even when a super- menace lockedin adeathstrugglewith spoilbanks: the topsoilis buried under giant screws bore into the mountain ficial project is conducted to restore the planet itself. 150 feet of rock, and chemical reac- from the already stripped seam. the surface contours of the land to an Big Muskie is a creature of man's tions quickly turn the exposedmineral pulling out the most easily accessible imitation of their original state, all creation, however, an earth-moving to acid.Streamsinthe area turn bright coal and leaving the rest an unstable that is involved is re-grading: there machine designed to convert hun- red and yellow, all life in them extin- honeycomb. can be no pretense that topsoil and all dreds of thousands ofacres intodesert— guished. Sometimes the spoil banks When the stripper has left and the the strata can be- replaced in their while removingmineral resources a catch fire, burningdeep within, emit- earth has ceased to vibrate from the natural formations. process known as strip-mining. There is indeed a death struggle involved: man's grasp for power has become convulsive,and has causedhim to turn in ispasms of violence against the land which giveshim life. Nothing describes strip-mining so well as the phrase "ripping off." Consider the direct assaultontheland. BigMuskieis involvedina formofsys- tematic, even geometric devastation called "area-stripping." Huge trenches as much as 185 feet deepare criss-crossed through relativelylevel— terrain, until the minerals— below coal, in this case have been ex- hausted. Everything between Big Muskie and the coal, soil,rock, water, vegetation,animal life and incidental human culture, is referred to with a trace of annoyance as "overburden," and is ripped away. When the strip- miners leave, all this material re- mains in massive heaps of debris known as "spoilbanks." Big Muskie is not alone: in Ohio he has brother monster with such" folksy' names as "Gem of Egypt and 'Sil- ver Spade."Elsewherein the country, an arrayof ever-more-powerfulequip- ment is stripping the land at a con- stantly increasing rate. At least 3.000 square miles, an area almost the size of Connecticut have already been stripped for coal alone. Predictions have it that anarea the size of New Jersey will be disposed of by the end of this decade. Strip mining,if it is thoughtof at all, is usually associated vaguely with Appalachia in the public mind, con- sidered an abuse tobe sure,but primi- ting thick fumes and heating the dynamite blasts, and the boulders The actual aftermath of strippingis tive and outdated, somethinglongago ground to thepoint at whichit becomes have ceased to tumble into the valleys not restricted to the site, by any and far away. An assumption which utterly sterile. There are people who below, and the forest creatures have means. Acid pollution affects water could become a bitter mockery: we have beenemployedfor thepast seven ceased running, there isleft above the systems everywhere: 12.000 miles of are in the midst of a coal rush, and years todo nothingbutpump wateron mineaperpendicular 200-foot scar, the streams havebeenpoisonedin Appala- strip-mining, primitive though it may a single one of these fires, slowly "highwall." The former layerof coal chia alone. Erosion damagesthe land be, has increased cancerously. It drowning it. stopping only when the has become an exposed rock bench. onto which the soil washesas well: di- accounts for more than 40% of U.S. area has become a flat gray swamp Below the mine hangs the spoil bank, solvedminerals often bakeinto a hard coal mining at present, and cheap, of waterand ashes. which willoften come hurtlinginto the crust. As much as 27,000 ton of soil can strip-mined coal is ever more im- Attempting to describe theeffects of inhabited valley beneath as a land- wash from a square mile of stripped portant in electric and gas power stripmining in mountainous regions,a slide, once the rains begin. hillside in a year. "generation. process termed "contour stripping," These are the classic (so to speak) And this leads to siltation. Streams, Twenty-seven states have strip- is equally delightful for the black patterns of strip-mining, but thestrip- rivers and lakes fill with sediment. pable reserves of coal, and the great- humorist. Usually a seam of coal can- per's abilityto obliterate hasscarcely Water suppliesare lost, aquatic life is est fields are in the West. Strip-mines be followed all the way around a hill been testedas yet.Technologyhasnow destroyed whereacid has notdone the are already gouging into New Mexico often there are several bands at suc- made it possible for him to decapitate job. and extensive flooding follows. and Arizona, and the accompanying cessive heights. Thus entire moun- a mountain, takeoff the topandpushit Entire towns in Appalachia havebeen generators are throwing plumes of tains are cut off by the no-man's-land into the valley. There are someareas destroyedby flooding caused by strip- smoke into the desert air that extend that is created by the arrival of the of Appalachia which formerly were mine siltation. for hundreds of miles. Similar opera- first bulldozers, which strip away ruggedmountains andcanyons. ..and Meanwhile, water tables have often tions are about to begin in Colorado. vegetationand topsoilabovethelower- are now perfectly flat. It has been been upset,organismsin the soil have Montana, Wyoming andNorth Dakota. most stream. promised that a machine will soon be been destroyed, and cycleshave been This refers only to coal. Technolo- developed which will be able to reach interrupted. Man does not have the gical developmentshave made it pos- Thedozersarefollowedby theearth- minerals at a depth of 2.000 feet or power to re-create an ecology -- and sible to strip for a host of minerals, movers, which dig directly into the more, straight down, meaningthat in- God (or the devil) knows what will from bauxite and phosphates to such mountain and shove the overburden dustry will have the power to createa grow from that acid. Remember how old favorites as stampede fan as gold down the side. After thousands of tons new geologicalepoch for profit. all those horror movies began? Tuesday, November 9, 1971 Page2 NEW UN1VERS1TY - Career Planning and Place- * Sailing Club meeting Wed- ment is now receiving job *ART FAIR nesday ai Viento Residence opportunities from theOrange Hall. Mesa Court. Trip to County Job Bank.Graduating sailing Catalina and future seniors and graduates seek Come listen to the sounds ol <lavs will be planned. Come— ing lull time employment the First Touch on Thursdaj. and talk to famous sailors should inquire at the Career November 11. at the T.I B. Dave Hodges from Los Via- planning and Placement Of- from 1- noon until .? p.m. and mitos Bay. Robert Koll of fice, Engineering,* Room 6)1. browse through the exhibition Newport and Carl Reinhart 1ft 0 4 t of over 1,000 original artists Horn Utah.***** prints.Everything from wood- AGAINST cuts to etchings by famous— Congratulations to Don uind unknown) artists Kropp. Arroyo, winner of the signed the artists and Phrateres \ Great Pumpkin INCORPORATION h> who priced from 15.00 on up. You Raffle. Thanks to all (Forum Against City- $5.00 purchased Happ> FACT may have to hunt for the tickets. hood Today) is a group of prints Inn come uive it a try eating. Don*****! residents whoare con- you're check Irvine and while there meeting lor cerned with the effect incor- the T.I B. and Campus There will be a out peopleinterested instarting a poration now willhave on the Union Student Store. Printson people of Irvine. They believe and for sale from 11 student-run tuition free com exhibition for underprivi- incorporation should be voted a.m. until ip.m. munity school ***** ledged children inCostaMesa down in the December 21 4 election. FACT would like to ' today at p.m.

Load more