The main objective of this lab project is to document and
learn to appreciate the effects of resource utilization. In part one I will be
looking at the effects of drilling for natural gas in the Powder River Basin in
Wyoming. I will also look at the effects of mountain top removal mining in West Virginia. In
part two I will be looking at a local area, the open
pit copper mine located in Butte, Montana. After documenting and looking at the environment of areas where
resources are being removed I will then compare these areas to undisturbed
surrounding areas to gain a since of the impact.
Part one
Power River Basin
Methane gas is a clean burning source of energy. Currently in Wyoming the industry is proposing 140,000 well for extraction. Although this is a clean burning fuel there are drawbacks in obtaining this fuel. Some effects are the massive amounts of roads, pipelines, and service facilities that all have an impact on wildlife in these remote areas. The worst of the environmental impacts of methane gas mining is the effect on the water supplies. The process of removing the gas produces up to 75,000 liters of salty water. Water is also pumped into the ground mixed with sand and toxic chemicals when drilling. This can contaminate underground water aquifers and run off into local streams.
In order to see the effects of the natural gas drilling in Wyoming I utilized Google Earth. Below are two screen shot images from Google Earth of the Powder River Basin.
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| Google Earth Screen Shot • accessed 3/4/12 |
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| Google Earth Screen Shot • accessed 3/4/12 |
Although these look like small dots on the ground they are very large. Look at the picture below to see the scale.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-069/dds-069-c/chapters.html • accessed 3/3/12
The image below is of land to the west of the Powder River Basin. This picture will show you what the land looks like without the impact of the gas wells.
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| Google Earth Screen Shot • accessed 3/4/12 |
The dangers that Wyoming faces when it comes to environmental problem due to the drilling of methane gas are not evils hiding out in the closet waiting to strike. They are developing problems showing up in plain sight. Below is a a local Wyoming news cast about water pollution.
Most of the public news and articles that I have read speak only about the effects of water pollution on humans. In farming and ranching communities the water is too toxic to drink. People have to fear the chemicals in the water starting on fire when they take a shower. But what are these chemicals doing to the plants and animals in the farming and ranching communities?
So what is methane gas? Where does it come from? And how do they extract it?
The origin of methane gas in Wyoming is coal beds. It is a natural gas that is produced by the coal beds. Methane is stored inside the coal by a process called adsorption. It is almost a liquid state that lines the pores inside the coal. To remove the methane from the coal beds they drill 100 - 1500 meter underground to get to the coal beds. Then using water pumped into the ground pressure pushes the water and the gas to the surface through tubing.
Mountaintop Removal
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| Google screen shot of Mountaintop Removal in West Virginia • accessed 3/4/12 |
What is Mountaintop Removal? It is a form of mining that is similar to strip mining. The tops of mountains or tops of a ridges are scraped off to expose coal beds. The disregard materials falls down into the valleys below.
In West Virginia the coal industry has been removing the
tops of mountains to get to the coal. They dump the unwanted materials into the
valleys. It is said that over 560 miles of streams have been buried. The EPA
has issued these restrictions on this type of mining because of the Clean Water
Act.
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| http://mountainjustice.org/facts/steps.php • accessed 3/4/12 |
Dumping unwanted materials into valley disturbs the free flowing rivers that flow though the valleys. Waste from mining is also a large pollutant to water as it flows downstream. Vegetation is hard to grow on the infertile and highly acidic soil left over from this form of mining. All these thing effect the local wildlife. Animals need to relocate to areas with clean water and vegetation in order to survive.
I currently live in Helena, Montana
When I stated looking for a disturbed area near to where I live I didn't have to look to far. Below is a screen shots from Google Earth of a town 30 minutes southwest of Helena called Butte, Montana.
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| Google Earth Screen Shot • accessed 3/4/12 |
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/skytruth/3554372215/sizes/m/in/photostream/ • accessed 3/3/12 |
The name of this mine is Berkeley Pit it is a former open pit copper mine. The mine was open in 1955 and it was closed in 1982. It is 1,780 feet deep, one mile wide, and a half a mile long.
The prominent feature is the water you see in the image. The water is from local surrounding aquifers and it has been seeping into the pit and slowly filling it. Back when the mine was open they would pump the water out. The pits water depth rises about one foot per month. The water level is currently at 150 feet and it is heavily acidic. Some of the heavy metals and chemicals that leach from the mine are arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid. When the water level in this pit reaches the natural water table there will be big environmental issues. If this happens the water will reverse its flow back into the the groundwater contaminating drinking water for southwestern Montana. This is said to happen in 2020.
Berkeley Pit has become a main focus. Many environmental organizations like the EPA, DEQ, and MR. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 has placed Berkeley Pit on the federal Superfund list. In the 1990's plans were drawn up to deal with the water problems.
New bacteria and fungi have been discovered by Andrea A. Stierle, and Donald B, Stierle. These new organisms have adapted to the conditions inside the pit. Some of the new species ingest the metals and are being look at as alternative ways of cleaning water.
This map shows the large size of the mine. In order to show the excavation and clearing of the natural environment that took place we can look at a zoomed out image from Google Earth. Here we see the mine in comparison to it surroundings.
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| Google Earth Screen Shot • accessed 3/4/12 |
The first time I saw Butte, Mt from the sky my heart dropped. It looks like a
bright white scar on the earth.
In conclusion I am very proud to share what I have learned in this lab. It is very important to understand where our resources come from and what impacts there are for attaining the resources. So many times we hear about opening up our natural resources but we neglect to look at the environmental impact. It is our responsibly to search out potential risks to our environment. Its is important to ask and understand what the environment effect are.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit)
(http://www.montanaresources.com/environmental.php)
(http://www.health.umt.edu/schools/biomed/faculty/DonaldStierle.htm)
Cunningham, William P., and Mary Ann Cunningham. “Principles of Environmental Science –Inquiry and Applications, 6th ed.” (New York: Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2011) Chapter 11
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