Communities around AMD-impaired streams are more likely to experience chronic poverty.
Follow State Route 13 up to the Little Cities of Black Diamonds, and the color of the streams that sometimes run along the road turns from a healthy brown to a reddish orange. The cause of the rusty color of those streams comes from acid mine drainage (AMD), which results from the exposure of pyrite-rich rock or coal in abandoned mines to rain and air. Exposure to the elements results in the oxidation of pyrite, which in turn produces the acidic water rich in heavy metals and sulfates characteristic of AMD.
In areas around the world that have been subjected to mineral extraction, AMD persists, and the success of restoration efforts targeting AMD has varied. After the end of mining operations, AMD may continue to leach out into streams for thousands of years, as it has in Italy since 476 BCE due to mining operations carried out by the ancient Romans. That resilience makes the sustainable treatment of AMD especially difficult, since restoration efforts must then either somehow find a onetime cure, or continually treat the targeted streams for centuries.
For its persistence, its prevalence and its devastating effect on thousands of miles of stream ecosystems, AMD is considered by some to be one of the most important environmental issues we face. However, despite its apparent significance, AMD receives relatively little attention compared to hot topics such as climate change, the looming of the sixth mass extinction and overpopulation.
Perhaps the relative lack of attention AMD receives has less to do with the problem itself than with the areas where the problem is found. The communities around AMD-impaired streams are more likely to experience chronic poverty. Examples of such communities include the aforementioned Little Cities of Black Diamonds, which refers to old coal mining towns in Southeast Ohio such as Buchtel, Glouster and Corning, whose founding coincided with the growth of the coal mining industry in the region.
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The chronic poverty found in those towns is indicative of a chronic neglect. As such, many of the problems that they face, including acid mine drainage, don’t receive the attention they deserve. It’s easy to ignore AMD, so long as society at large still benefits from coal mining and does not have to live near any orange streams.
A culture that encourages consumerism and cultivates greed for cheap energy ensures that AMD and other environmental issues resulting from mineral extraction will continue to spread. In South Africa, for instance, AMD has become prevalent recently as a result of gold mining operations, causing severe socioeconomic and health-related issues that have held many below the poverty line.
Around the world, AMD is symptomatic of a larger issue, a prevalent attitude that pushes most of the harm that comes from environmental degradation on the poor or otherwise underprivileged and doles out most of the benefits to the ones who have the most money.
In Southeast Ohio, the Little Cities of Black Diamonds live with the legacy of coal mining while those who most directly benefit from the presence of the university enjoy cheap energy.
In the United States, Appalachia suffers from the consequences of continued mineral extraction, including mountaintop removal, while most of the rest of the country lives out of sight in relative luxury. Internationally, the Global North is responsible for most of the environmental degradation in the world yet benefits the most from its causes, while the Global South inherits most of the resulting problems and struggles to develop itself.
Thus AMD represents business as usual, a confirmation that the poor endure more environmental degradation than the wealthy. Solving this problem will require consideration of more than just the degraded ecosystems. Restoration of the land ought to include restoration of the people and their communities in order to create a truly sustainable landscape.
Austin Miles is a senior studying biology. What do you know about acid mine drainage? Email him at am343011@ohio.edu.
