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Effects of Underground Coal Mining to the Environment

Introduction

China has been the most developing countries in the world in the last few decades. The

country has witnessed incredible growth in its industrialization and thus its need for energy grew

exponentially. The increased economic growth in China has been coupled with increase in the

needs for electricity and so is the pollution growth rates. China is the leading producer and user

of coal and coal products in the world. The dark rock is the country’s main source of energy.

According to the US energy and Information administration 2010, China uses more coal as that

used by Japan, United States and Europe combined. This increased use is on the other hand

coupled with a number of environmental impacts that are affecting the Chinese economy

adversely. Among them is the air pollution that has changed China’s atmosphere into a choking

cloud, water pollution, and also soil pollution. The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of

underground coal mining and its use China.

Coal has been known to be among the dirtiest energy sources used in the world and its

production follows a set of steps before it becomes usable. Among this steps in the extraction

stage where the coal ore is mined, cleaning, transportation, electricity generation and waste

disposal (Fengxiang et al., 5). All these steps leave bits and bits of coal pollutants in the

environment, and its cumulative impact is noticeable in China through the particulate matter

content in air and the other forms of pollution that are adversely affecting the economy of China.
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Coal Production in China

Most of China's coal is produced in the northern provinces, but most of it comes from the

Shanxi province. Most of this coal is from underground mining which has been in use for close

to half a century before they get exhausted. The extraction of coal in China is done by both

government institutions and private and local miners who produce small amounts of coal.

According to a number of studies that have been conducted, the environmental impacts depend

on whether the coal mining station is abandoned or is it still active.

Additionally, the impact depends on the geological condition of the mine and the

methods used in mining. Among the most common impacts that are witnessed in China today is

ground subsidence, soil pollution, the evolution of ecosystems, change of the country’s

hydrodynamics among others (Dou et al., 278). The coal mining process requires a lot of water,

and it has been linked to the reduction of groundwater in China and thus the spread of

desertification in the country. Additionally, the continuous unregulated disposal of coal wastes

lead buildup of toxic hydrocarbons in the soil and thus causing soil pollution.

The use of coal also contributes to global atmospheric degradation and thus a great

contributor to global warming. The process of Coal mining generates spillovers and thus

contributing to pollution in the surrounding areas. A good example that has been being the vast

swathes in the northern provinces of China where coal mining has been taking place for

hundreds of years. The residents in this region live in choking coal clouds that have contributed

to hundreds of people living with the black lung disease. Another threat posed by the

underground coal mining is the risk of ground collapse (Hsieh, 470). In the Shanxi province, the

threat was elevated to an extent of people migrating from the area. The area has experienced a
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number of coal mine collapse among them the Pangpangta collapse that saw more than two

hundred houses sink

Over time, engineers and the chine government have been trying to identify waste

production at the different levels of coal production. This is the only way the wastes can be

managed and thus reducing the hazardous effects posed by the use of coal to generate energy.

Being able to identify the different waste at each stage will not only help in waste management

but also make the industry to be a more sustainable one.

Water pollution

China has one of the best water supply resources, but recent studies have indicated that it

is relatively poor regarding water resources per capita. The country has witnessed a rapid growth

in urbanization and thus an increased need for fresh water to sustain the rapidly growing

populations in the country. Additionally, the continuously expanding urbanization increases the

need for electricity and thus leads back to coal mining and combustion to produce electricity.

Coal mining and processing requires a lot of water. This is the core contributor to the water

shortages in the north as the coal mining in the region has reduced groundwater significantly.

Other than lowering groundwater, coal mining contributes to water pollution significantly.

During the extraction and processing of coal, the coal particles and hydrocarbons mix with water

thus making the water unsafe for consumption by any living thing. Ecosystems are destroyed,

and therefore the structural setup of the country is affected. Continuous mining also alters the

direction of watercourses. Mining of coal in the lower seams also increases the risk of high-

pressure water busting into the mines and causing death and further pollution.

Air Pollution
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The mining operations of coal cause emission of toxic gases into the environment.

Among the most common gases released during this operations include sulfur dioxide and oxides

of nitrogen. These gases are the major contributors to global warming that is the most significant

threats to the world today. Mining of coal includes drilling and blasting which leads to acid mine

drainage. Presently, China is one of the largest emitters of sulfur oxides in the world owing to its

increased use of coal. This high emission is responsible for acid rain that occurs in China and

crop damage amounting to 30 billion Yuan. On the other hand, methane which is the main

component of coal gas is the major contributor of the global warming. A combination of all these

gases in china’s atmosphere is responsible for the particulate matter effect in China and the

increased greenhouse effect.

Waste disposal

Coal mining and processing leave a trail of wastes that include gangues, fly-ash, methane

gases, and mine drainage among others. Improper handling of this wastes has been linked by a

number of researchers to be the main cause of pollution in China (Li, Baiquan, and Cheng 2933).

For instance, the improper handling of gangues can cause landslides and even lead to

spontaneous burning that releases greenhouse gases into the environment. Other pollution effects

that are caused by improper handling of the wastes is the coarse discard that is produced during

coal washing. The coal dust also leads to the development of visual impacts in China and also

land use constraints. A number of studies have been conducted regarding the best handling

methods that can be used to sort out the waste handling problem in China. Some scholars

proposed putting the wastes into subsidence basin thus reclaiming the land which could be used

for agricultural purposes. Other scholars suggested that the waste could be used to fuel power

plants and thus supplement the high energy needs of the country. In addition to that, other
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scholars suggested that the waste materials be used to fill the underground cavities left by coal

mining and thus to make the land above to be habitable again.

Coal is most often mined in the northern provinces of China, but it is needed most in the

southern areas of the country. This, therefore, calls for an efficient transport system to be used to

transport the coal to its final consumers. The most used method in China is the rail transport. Rail

transport is a key feature in China's coal industry. In the year 2008, coal made up 49 % of all the

commodities that were transported through the railway transport system (Xuan and Jialin 890).

China is facing severe problems as its rail system is becoming very expensive to transport coal.

At some point, the coal merchants are forced to use road transport to take their product to the

southern regions. Road transport is slow and not efficient thus increasing the final price per unit.

Among the environmental impacts posed by road transport are the risks of spillovers in

congested areas. People getting into contact with the toxic hydrocarbons will lead to health

issues and thus increased government spending on medical insurance.

Methods used in the studies.

Spatial panel data models. Most researchers who have taken the time to study the

relationship between coal mining and its effects on the environment apply this model to conduct

their studies. In this case, the studies use regional data to capture each province’s characteristics.

To arrive at the various inferences, most of the studies apply econometric modeling. In the

different studies conducted, it was found out that geographical factors play critical roles in

determining the effects of coal mining and the public policy in the area. In China, the coal

mining areas are not bound by the country’s boundaries that are known by the public.

Additionally, the environmental impacts of coal such as pollution and subsidence occur

in the areas that transcend the administrative policies and boundaries (Fan et al., 243). Therefore
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studies aimed at accounting for the disparity in the qualities employ the use of proxies to capture

the impact of space. The researchers set assumed boundaries that are used in the clustering of the

affected areas and thus an easy collection of data. This approach, therefore, makes it easy to use

the spatial econometrics in analyzing the different effects of coal on the environment. Other

researchers go a step further to employ time series observation of the northern provinces of

China. To capture the changes in the landscape over time, the studies employ panel spatial panel

data that contains the series of observations over time (Lu et al., 1420). One significant

advantage of using this approach is that there is less collinearity among the variables and thus the

researchers have an increased degree of freedom thus increased efficiency.

It is evident for the analysis above that most studies have taken time to study the

relationship between coal mining and environmental degradation. Almost all studies have

invested in studies the environmental impacts of coal in China’s environment. For instance, the

core aspects that are discussed by most researchers is air pollution due to coal burning, water

pollution and degradation of agricultural waste. But when these results are looked keenly, they

are only responsible for informing the public and the relevant authorities of the effects of using

coal as a source of energy (Qiu et al., 40). But only a few studies give out options on how the

government should handle the issue. China’s energy depends on coal burning as to sustain its

high population and rapidly developing an industrial base. This, therefore, means that stopping to

use coal is no option to China. The researchers should, therefore, be inclined towards changing

the coal industry into a sustainable industry that serves the country’s mega-energy needs. The

most open gap is in the industry is waste management. All the environmental impacts that are

witnessed are due to poor coal waste management. The local miners who don’t have the

recommended machinery. This will ensure that the coal mining and washing are appropriately
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done and thus limits the amount of wastes that are released to the natural environment. It is

evident that the country is suffering from massive environmental pollution (Li et al., 3842). But

till it needs high amounts of energy to power, it’s constantly growing cities and factories. This

means therefore that researchers should start studying on the most appropriate methods that can

be used in coal mining, transportation and also the usage. Additionally, the different stages in the

coal processing should be studied and the different ways to manage the wastes in the different

stages be analyzed. In this way, therefore, China will be able to control pollution due to coal

mining and use.

Under the research methods, the studies have been concentrating on empirical studies

aimed and establishing the relationship between coal mining and environmental degradation. But

these studies end up inappropriate as it is evident that coal is contributing to environmental

degradation in China. Therefore changing the research methods to be more scientific and be

inclined towards hypothesis testing will help the p come up with scientific methods that can be

used in coal waste management. The Chinese government has not taken much effort in

controlling the coal mining in the north. This lack of administrative policies to govern the

process has led to private miners who are only interested in profits to exploit the region (Yao et

al., 80). These private miners are careless of the environmental risks that they are exposing the

inhabitants of the region to.

Additionally, they don’t follow all the recommended waste management methods that

have been set already. For instance, a lot of people in the Northern provinces of China are

nursing dark lung disease that is as a result of inhaling coal dust. The government spend a lot of

money to finance their health covers and thus inhibits the development of other social

infrastructure.
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The Chinese researchers should consider going into facing the problem in the future and

not proofing that the problem exists. In that case, proper mining methods will be developed and

thus able to control all the wastes produced during the coal mining process. Studies that are

geared towards waste control will give miners with a range of waste control mechanisms and

thus avoid any unintended effect on the environment (Ju, and Xu 323). For instance in

controlling air pollution, researchers should come up with better methods to mine the coal ore

instead of blasting the underground tunnels. This will limit the number of particles that spill to

the neighboring environments like water bodies and even the air. Coal dust is the major pollutant

when miners use blasting. Therefore if the researcher develops new methods, coal dust in the air

will be reduced significantly. Finally, the Chinese government should come up with policies

meant to govern the underground coal mining. This will include coming up with regulations that

will govern the industry and thus cut down the local and private miners who are primarily geared

toward profit. Waste management laws will also subject mining companies to adopting

environmentally friendly mining and waste management methods and thus avoid further

contamination of the environment with coal waste (Li et al., 453). Studies should be inclined

towards informing the country about how coal waste is managed and how it should be managed

instead of spending loads of money in conducting researches and studies inclined towards

establishing the relationship between underground coal mining and environmental pollution.

In conclusion, it is evident that China is facing high levels of environmental pollution.

This is due to the energy sources that are utilized by the country to serve its high population and

continuously growing industrial base. Among the core sources of energy in China is coal and it

has been linked to the environmental degradation in the country. Studies have been conducted

over time regarding underground coal mining and environmental pollution, and it has been
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established that coal use contributes a great deal to China’s current environmental state. But the

core problem, in this case, is the inability of the Chinese government to control the coal mining

industry thus letting unqualified miners take part in the process and thus practicing poor waste

management. Additionally, researchers should start conducting studies regarding coal waste

management. This will lead to the development of waste management methods that will turn the

coal industry into a sustainable industry that is pollution free.

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