Federal agency finds elevated levels of problematic substances in air, soil and water near strip mines

After a year of testing air, water and soil around mountaintop removal mine sites in Central Appalachia, the U.S. Geological Survey has found high levels of toxins in the soil and water, concluding that people in southern West Virginia living close to these sites are living in an environment "with significant chemical discrepancies from the rest of the state," reports Alice Su of The Center for Public Integrity. The findings are the first conclusive scientific evidence by a federal agency that mountaintop removal mining could cause human health risks.

USGS research geochemist Bill Orem, the principal investigator, said water in mining areas had unusually high acid and electrical conductivity levels in the water, air had abnormal levels of particulates, and soil and streams had irregular levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. "Several PAH compounds are probable or possible human carcinogens," Su notes. Orem said results are preliminary and research is still being conducted, but soil samples from mining areas were "certainly different" from those in non-mining areas, and that airborne silica particles, known to cause lung disease, were "definitely higher."

Orem said the USGS will be "prudent" to connect preliminary data to actual health problems in the region that have been documented in controversial correlation studies by West Virginia University public health professor Michael Hendryx. "You have to be conservative in your statements," Orem said. "It can't be driven by people's feelings. It has to be a scientific, data-driven process." (Read more)