Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data

Environmental laws need sound data to protect species and ecosystems. In 1996, a proliferation of mountaintop removal coal mines in a region home to over 50 federally protected species was approved under the Endangered Species Act. Although this type of mining can degrade terrestrial and aquatic hab...

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Autores principales:	Michael J. Evans, Kathryn Kay, Chelsea Proctor, Christian J. Thomas, Jacob W. Malcom
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9c6221c1f641476b85d16ff8ed026d28
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9c6221c1f641476b85d16ff8ed026d282021-11-11T07:14:41ZLinking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data1932-6203https://doaj.org/article/9c6221c1f641476b85d16ff8ed026d282021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8568141/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Environmental laws need sound data to protect species and ecosystems. In 1996, a proliferation of mountaintop removal coal mines in a region home to over 50 federally protected species was approved under the Endangered Species Act. Although this type of mining can degrade terrestrial and aquatic habitats, the available data and tools limited the ability to analyze spatially extensive, aggregate effects of such a program. We used two large, public datasets to quantify the relationship between mountaintop removal coal mining and water quality measures important to the survival of imperiled species at a landscape scale across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. We combined an annual map of the extent of surface mines in this region from 1985 to 2015 generated from Landsat satellite imagery with public water quality data collected over the same time period from 4,260 monitoring stations within the same area. The water quality data show that chronic and acute thresholds for levels of aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, conductivity, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, pH, selenium, and zinc safe for aquatic life were exceeded thousands of times between 1985 and 2015 in streams that are important to the survival and recovery of species on the Endangered Species List. Linear mixed models showed that levels of manganese, sulfate, sulfur, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, and zinc increased by 6.73E+01 to 6.87E+05 μg/L and conductivity by 3.30E+06 μS /cm for one percent increase in the mined proportion of the area draining into a monitoring station. The proportion of a drainage area that was mined also increased the likelihood that chronic thresholds for copper, lead, and zinc required to sustain aquatic life were exceeded. Finally, the proportion of a watershed that was mined was positively related to the likelihood that a waterway would be designated as impaired under the Clean Water Act. Together these results demonstrate that the extent of mountaintop removal mining, which can be derived from public satellite data, is predictive of water quality measures important to imperiled species—effects that must be considered under environmental law. These findings and the public data used in our analyses are pertinent to ongoing re-evaluations of the effects of current mine permitting regulations to the recovery and survival of federally protected species.Michael J. EvansKathryn KayChelsea ProctorChristian J. ThomasJacob W. MalcomPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Michael J. Evans Kathryn Kay Chelsea Proctor Christian J. Thomas Jacob W. Malcom Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
description	Environmental laws need sound data to protect species and ecosystems. In 1996, a proliferation of mountaintop removal coal mines in a region home to over 50 federally protected species was approved under the Endangered Species Act. Although this type of mining can degrade terrestrial and aquatic habitats, the available data and tools limited the ability to analyze spatially extensive, aggregate effects of such a program. We used two large, public datasets to quantify the relationship between mountaintop removal coal mining and water quality measures important to the survival of imperiled species at a landscape scale across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. We combined an annual map of the extent of surface mines in this region from 1985 to 2015 generated from Landsat satellite imagery with public water quality data collected over the same time period from 4,260 monitoring stations within the same area. The water quality data show that chronic and acute thresholds for levels of aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, conductivity, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, pH, selenium, and zinc safe for aquatic life were exceeded thousands of times between 1985 and 2015 in streams that are important to the survival and recovery of species on the Endangered Species List. Linear mixed models showed that levels of manganese, sulfate, sulfur, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, and zinc increased by 6.73E+01 to 6.87E+05 μg/L and conductivity by 3.30E+06 μS /cm for one percent increase in the mined proportion of the area draining into a monitoring station. The proportion of a drainage area that was mined also increased the likelihood that chronic thresholds for copper, lead, and zinc required to sustain aquatic life were exceeded. Finally, the proportion of a watershed that was mined was positively related to the likelihood that a waterway would be designated as impaired under the Clean Water Act. Together these results demonstrate that the extent of mountaintop removal mining, which can be derived from public satellite data, is predictive of water quality measures important to imperiled species—effects that must be considered under environmental law. These findings and the public data used in our analyses are pertinent to ongoing re-evaluations of the effects of current mine permitting regulations to the recovery and survival of federally protected species.
format	article
author	Michael J. Evans Kathryn Kay Chelsea Proctor Christian J. Thomas Jacob W. Malcom
author_facet	Michael J. Evans Kathryn Kay Chelsea Proctor Christian J. Thomas Jacob W. Malcom
author_sort	Michael J. Evans
title	Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
title_short	Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
title_full	Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
title_fullStr	Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
title_full_unstemmed	Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
title_sort	linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/9c6221c1f641476b85d16ff8ed026d28
work_keys_str_mv	AT michaeljevans linkingmountaintopremovalminingtowaterqualityforimperiledspeciesusingsatellitedata AT kathrynkay linkingmountaintopremovalminingtowaterqualityforimperiledspeciesusingsatellitedata AT chelseaproctor linkingmountaintopremovalminingtowaterqualityforimperiledspeciesusingsatellitedata AT christianjthomas linkingmountaintopremovalminingtowaterqualityforimperiledspeciesusingsatellitedata AT jacobwmalcom linkingmountaintopremovalminingtowaterqualityforimperiledspeciesusingsatellitedata
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Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data

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