This slideshow was developed to help inform KFTC members and other audiences about recent studies linking poor health with proximity to large scale strip-mining.
This is a brief and comprehensive review of many scientific studies describing the environmental and health consequences of mountaintop coal mining in Central Appalachia.
This study estimates that the mining, transporting and burning of coal results in $75 billion annually in public health costs in Appalachian communities, with a majority of those impacts resulting from increased health care costs, injury, and death.
This study found that mountaintop mining is linked with increased community cancer risk. Self-reported rates of cancer were higher in a WV county with mountaintop coal mining than in a similar, nearby Appalachian county without large scale strip mining.
This study found that residents of Central Appalachian counties with mountaintop coal mining reported significantly more days of poor physical, mental and activity limitation and rated their own health more poorly than people living in similar communities without large scale strip-mining.
This study found that the rate of children born with birth defects was 42% higher in Appalachian communities with mountaintop coal mining than in similar non-mining communities.
This page contains direct links to numerous, recent peer reviewed studies about the health impacts of large scale surface coal mining in Central Appalachia.
