Summary for Friday February 5th

Today, we looked at water quality issues related to coal mining (particularly MTM/VF) and this is (or isn't) regulated in the US. We began with a discussion of last night's talk on MTM/VF and some of your reactions. I look forward to reading your written summaries for those of you that choose this as one of your five outside lecture opportunities. We then moved on to an analysis of the major conclusions of the recent paper on MTM/VF in Science Magazine (Palmer et al., 2010). We also looked at the basic composition of coal and sources of water pollution during (and after) MTM/VF- namely:

a. the increase in available reaction surface area for semi-toxic* materials (such as coal) due to the disruption (anthropogenic physical weathering)of the geological materials during the mining process. *I am using the admittedly non-scientific term 'semi-toxic' here to describe something that is not malignantly toxic (like pure lead or plutonium) but is not entirely benign (like pure quartz sandstone or puppies).

b. the disruption of natural systems (vegetation, percolation of groundwater) that help to maintain and improve water quality

c. the coal washing process and the slurry ponds that it creates

Following this lecture you should be able to summarize the negative effects of MTM/VF on local and regional water quality, summarize the recent history of how MTM/VF has been regulated at the federal level (CWA, EPA), summarize the sources of water quality issues related to MTM/VF, tell me the five most abundant elements in most coal (C,O,H,N,S), and define water quality.

Information on the hydrophilanthropy project in Haiti that I mentioned can be found here.

Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.

If you missed class this morning, your absences will be considered excused. The quiz today will be postponed until Monday morning.

There are no additional reading assignments for Monday's class; however, there is a short homework assignment that is due before class on Monday.