Linking mountaintop removal mining to water quality for imperiled species using satellite data

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Ecology
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Mountaintop removal mining (MTM) poses risks to biodiversity and ecosystem health.
• Existing environmental laws require robust data to assess MTM impacts on protected species.
• Previous analyses were limited by the inability to assess landscape-scale, aggregate effects of MTM.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the relationship between MTM extent and water quality at a landscape scale.
• To assess MTM impacts on water quality crucial for the survival of imperiled species.
• To inform environmental law and species protection strategies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Landsat satellite imagery to map MTM extent (1985-2015) across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
• Integrated MTM data with water quality records from 4,260 monitoring stations.
• Employed linear mixed models to analyze MTM effects on water quality parameters.

Main Results:

• Thousands of exceedances of safe water quality thresholds (e.g., aluminum, arsenic, lead, mercury, pH) were recorded between 1985-2015.
• Increased MTM proportion correlated with elevated levels of manganese, sulfate, zinc, and conductivity.
• MTM extent predicted increased likelihood of exceeding chronic toxicity thresholds for copper, lead, and zinc.
• Higher MTM proportion in watersheds increased the probability of waterways being designated as impaired under the Clean Water Act.

Conclusions:

• Landscape-scale MTM extent, derivable from public satellite data, is a strong predictor of water quality degradation.
• Degraded water quality poses significant risks to the survival and recovery of federally protected species.
• Findings underscore the need to consider MTM impacts in environmental law and species protection.