Environmental destruction from coal mining may be contributing to high cancer rates in West Virginia, according to a new study published in EcoHealth, the peer-reviewed journal of the International Association for Ecology and Health. The authors compared cancer rates to environmental indicators of streams and found “significant associations between ecological integrity and public health,” even when factoring out other potential causes like smoking, poverty andurbanization.
From a related press release from West Virginia University:
Regulation of coal mining is often portrayed as a choice between ‘mayflies and miners,’” Emily Bernhardt, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Duke University, said. “However, this study shows how streams are important for the health and welfare of miners and their communities.”
“This paper really drives home the fact that it is not just streams and stream animals that we are losing in the surface mining regions of Appalachia, but also the health and well-being of women, children and men,” Margaret Palmer, Ph.D., professor of entomology and biology at the University of Maryland, said.
The study builds on an analysis published January in the journal Science, which found that mountaintop removal mining has a “high potential for human health impacts.”
The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced tighter regulations to curb the negative effects on streams of this type of mining, which requires removal of large volumes of earth to expose coal seams.
Related: Activist Arrested for ‘Hexing’ Financier of Mountaintop Mining
