DIRECT EFFECTS OF RESOURCE USE ACTIVITIES: Primary: Mining, Quarrying, Dredging, Drilling, Logging, Fishing, Farming……. Secondary:

Processing, Smelting, Refining

Tertiary:

Power Generation, Combustion, Manufacturing.....

Final:

Waste Treatment & Disposal Landfilling Incineration Reclamation

All have direct impact on landscape & environment, especially air & water

Surface Mining: (Strip mining) (63% USA production) Environmental Consequences Soils destroyed Landslides Highwalls Valley Fills Acid mine drainage pH 2-5 Aquifers disrupted In USA (mostly Appalachia) > 6,000 sq mi disrupted since WWII, >1/2 without any reclamation effort Partial Restoration possible Environmental Consequences of Coal Combustion Air Pollution: acid rain, particulates, heavy metal fallout CCP wastes ! ! ! ! !!

Coal Contour Mine, TN

Kesler 31

Last 20 years:

>1,000 sq mi area

725 miles of streams buried

Mountaintop Removal

West Virginia

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/MountaintopRemoval/

NASA

6/7/2005

Hobet MTR,

Lincoln County, WV

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

10/21/2006

Mountaintop mining, West Virginia

EPA

Lyburn,

Logan Co, WV

7/19/2002

Valley Fill

Hobet-21 mine

6/20/2007

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Birchton Curve Valley Fill

10/19/2003

Wheeling Creek, WVA

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq/wqacidmine.html

Blacklick Ck

near Dilltown PA

http://bikewashington.org/trails/ghost/ghost.htm

Kingston Fossil Plant (TVA)

Harriman TN Dec 22 2008

breached retaining wall, 300 Mgal sludge

NYT

Harriman TN Dec 22 2008

300 Mgal spill, coal fly ash

NYT

Harriman TN Dec 22 2008

300 Mgal sludge

1.7 M yd3 coal fly ash

Pb As Se Ni Cr Tl Hg

NYT

Labadie Power Plant

Largest in Missouri: 2400 MWe

Leaking, unlined, unmonitored, 154 acre ash pond

400 acre coal-ash landfill planned in floodplain



StLPD



Ag Levee Overtopped:

1986, 1993

Labadie MO

May 22, 2010

Criss

Flooding at Labadie Bottoms

8/19/93

NASA

Floodplains: Great for farming,

Risky for waste storage



Flooding:



Fast moving waters can damage levees



River water can enter landfill



Landfill waste can get into river



Landfill waste can get into groundwater



Waterlogging



Higher water tables will harm remaining farmland



Groundwater Contamination



Risk to existing private wells



Potential contamination of valuable resource



Earthquake Hazards



Potential damage to levee and landfill



Slumping, sand blows, landslides



Perforation of landfill liner





Criss 2009 testimony

MUNICIPAL & INDUSTRIAL

WASTE = $ Big Business $



5000 million tons of solid waste/y



= 20 t/person/y in USA



includes agricultural waste,



rock waste & tailings, etc.



Domestic Waste: ~ 1 ton/pers/y

@ >$32/ton => $ 10 B/y in USA





Waste is mostly _____?











Criss



USA Municipal Solid Waste

Craig et al. 2001 p. 114

MUNICIPAL & INDUSTRIAL WASTE $ Big Business

USA: solid domestic waste/year = 1 t/person/y





Domestic Waste is mostly organic material



~ 38% paper & cardboard





16% yard waste





9% plastics





8% metal





7% wood





7% food





7% glass





(sewage sludge often 10%)







Where is the away in throw it away?

NIMBYS, NIMTOOFS



$

DISPOSAL METHODS





Open Dumping, often w/ open fires for volume reduction





Primary method in World for domestic waste





Main method in USA before 1960







Now illegal but common; e.g., Missouri sinkholes













Problems:





Much land used





Air & water contamination





Vermin, insects





Eyesores....



Dumped at sea (e.g., New York City)





Sanitary Landfill





Incineration





Recycling







(now 60%)

Benarde 1989

US Municipal Solid Waste

Craig et al. 2001 p. 114

DISPOSAL METHODS Sanitary Landfill Requires 1 acre/y/10,000 people Area, trench, ramp, or canyon methods Each day waste compacted, covered with 15-30 cm of earth, forming a cell and eventually a package of alternating layers. Land can later be covered with topsoil, seeded, used for parks, golf courses Methane generation- electricity production possible Incineration Recycling

Peerless Park C&D Landfill

3/22/08

Criss



Craig et al. 2001 p. 116

Milam Landfill (Waste Mgt. Inc) Sinclair Co., IL 176 acres ~ 4,500 t/day = ~500 trucks/day 60% MO 40% IL, some from Springfield 3 MGD leachate; gravity drain to Granite City WWTP Opened in 1982; est. life to ~2012 AD ( now shut down?)

Permitted to go to

180 high

(590 elev)

2008

170

(580 elev)

1997

75

(485 elev)

Will expand to North Milam Landfill: floodplain & wetlands KMOX

Milam Landfill Layering 1 clean dirt, cap applied every nite. 10 residential trash ( fluff ) 1 soil- for protection of above from machinery Geotextile= woven fabric to prevent geonet from clogging Geonet= permeable synthetic liner, 1 sand with leachate collection & removal systemHDPE pipe network to prevent leachate from accumulating on liner. Geoliner, HDPE plastic, 60 mil, carefully welded (70¢/sq ft; thickness of a nickel)

6' clay base, compacted, low permeability Site Preparation Cost = $100,000/ acre ($2/ sq ft; YCCL figure) Use 600 tons crushed rock/day for roads 26 pieces of heavy equipment, inc. two D7 CATS, 1 D8, 35,000 lb packers (spikewheels) 44 gas wells => electricity to UE grid- 5 miles of pipe ~ 2400 kWe 3500 homes

Yolo Co Landfill (foreground) near Sacramento CA

Yolo Co. Landfill

Criss



Wood Recycling, Yolo Co Landfill Criss

2000 kWe Methane generator, Yolo Co Landfill Criss



Fred Weber Quarry

Criss



Incineration: Controlled burning @ very hi T (750-1600°C) e.g. Trade Waste Inc., Sauget IL, kiln

Most domestic waste is combustible! Greatly reduces weight & volume (90%) of waste Good for destruction of hazardous organic chemicals e.g. Times Beach- dioxin Can generate space heat or electricity (e.g., Tires -> cement kilns) Requires little space- so much used in Europe



Incineration: Controlled burning @ very hi T (750-1600°C) e.g. Trade Waste Inc., Sauget IL, kiln

Most domestic waste is combustible! Greatly reduces weight & volume (90%) of waste Good for destruction of hazardous organic chemicals e.g. Times Beach- dioxin Can generate space heat or electricity (e.g., Tires to cement kilns) Requires little space- so much used in Europe Incineration: $62/ton

(2004)

Landfilling: $34/ton

(2004)

0.5 to 1 trillion plastic bags used/year crumb rubber => playgrounds, mulch Coke can 14 g = 31 cans/lb $1600/ton (3c/can) Glass < $40/ton clear glass most valuable

Hazardous Waste Industrial > 1 billion tons of waste chemicals generated since 1960



> 30 MT/y



1000 s of sites



> 40,000 Hazardous waste generators in 1985



Radwaste



HHW

Love Canal Waste Landfill, Niagra Falls, NY Used from 1942-1953 by Hooker Chemical > 20,000 t of chlorinated HC's etc. buried in metal drums or sludgeFilled canal in 1953, capped w/ clay, then soil, Made into playing field PCB's etc got into city sewers, basements; leaking drums popped up Low birth weight babies - 45% in early 1950 s Some people evacuated In 1980 Congress authorized Superfund ($9.2 billion) for cleanup of hazardous waste sites; ~800 sites

Hazardous Waste Industrial Radwaste HHW

West Lake Landfill

St. Louis

Hazardous Waste Industrial Radwaste HHW = Household Hazardous Waste Reduce amounts to: Reduce municipal liability Protect health & safety of workers Protect GW quality Prevent future superfund sites

Reduction- don't generate! Disposal costs @ YCCL Solvent $10/gal Drano $35/lb Aerosol can $3 ea Such items 1st go to Washington State for sorting, then to Texas for incineration State of California preference hierarchy: Reduction > Recycling > Incineration > Sanitary Landfilling

Calico, CA Criss