Coal mining in Kentucky
However, railroads and households soon began shifting from coal to oil and gas for their energy needs, and the industry yet again experienced a downturn.
Secondly, acid rain regulation found in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment has made Kentucky coal, with its medium to high sulfur content, less desirable.
[12] Arguably coal's biggest economic impact has been low electric rates in Kentucky, which gives the state a competitive advantage in attracting industry, including those with heavy energy demands such as aluminum smelters and automotive plants.
Starting in the 1960s coal seams in both Kentucky coal fields have been increasingly accessed via a method known as Mountaintop Removal Mining, which is a form of surface mining that involves the topographical alteration and/or removal of a summit, summit ridge, or significant portion of a mountain, hill, or ridge in order to obtain a desired geologic material.
The process involves blasting with explosives to remove up to 400 vertical feet (120 m) of overburden to expose underlying coal seams.
Valley fills have been found to cause the permanent loss of critical ecosystems through water pollution and the burial of headwater streams.
[20] Furthermore, vegetation removal and soil compaction from mining equipment both contribute to stronger and more frequent flooding from storm runoff.
Fly ash uranium sometimes leaches into the soil and water surrounding a coal plant, affecting cropland and, in turn, food.
People living within a "stack shadow"—the area within a half- to one-mile (0.8- to 1.6-kilometer) radius of a coal plant's smokestacks—might then ingest small amounts of radiation.
Fly ash is also disposed of in landfills and abandoned mines and quarries, posing a potential risk to people living around those areas.
Lead is a powerful toxicant, negatively impacting human and animal health when ingested or inhaled, even in extremely small quantities.
The newest generating unit at LG&E's Trimble County Station, TC2 (an 810 MW-gross coal combustion unit brought online in 2010) emits lead particulate matter at a rate of 499 kg/yr (approximately 1098 lb/yr, or to put into similar terms as used for human health, approximately 498 Billion micrograms).
[24] In 2002, scientists like Dr. Angel started realizing that Appalachian forests destroyed by strip-mining weren't coming back, even with rejuvenation efforts.
[24] After realizing this was an ecological disaster, Dr. Angel led efforts to plant more than 187 million trees which cover more than 275,000 acres of former mining land in Appalachia.
[24] Dr. Kathy Newfont, an Appalachian history professor at the University of Kentucky commented on Dr. Angel's efforts saying "...it was one of the most hopeful things I'd heard about the region in decades,".
These pollutants are hypothesized to be the culprits in causing higher than average levels of cancer, stroke, asthma, heart attacks, hypertension, and overall poor cardiovascular health in rural coal-mining communities.
Socioeconomic barriers that Appalachian communities experience can play a large role in skewing the average rates of long-term illnesses.
[25] For example, the Louisville Gas & Electric Co. (LG&E) and the Kentucky Utilities Co. (KU) operated a coal-based power plant since 1954 known as Cane Run 7.
A coal-based power plant known as Big Sandy Unit 2 near Louisa, Kentucky, was shut down in 2015 due to environmental regulations.
The company that owns Big Sandy Unit 2, American Electric Power, is converting the facility to natural gas.
[27] According to the Courier-Journal, the SPR has downsides: it could put "tens of thousands" of coal miners out of a job and increase the cost of electricity for Kentucky consumers.
All three Republican primary candidates, David Williams, Bobbie Holsclaw, Phil Moffett, stated that they supported not only the Kentucky coal industry but also the practice of mountaintop removal.
