When A Coal Mine Shuts Down, Locals Get The Shaft
Big Take
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The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
After 1977 coal companies became legally required to reclaim the mines that they had started. The law passed regulate coal mining is called the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. One of the places we went to there was a stream that had been poisonous since the 1890s, still acidic until just a couple years ago when the state finally got around to cleaning it up. What they do is typically install these like giant silos along the stream with a machine that's kind of constantly dumping this limestone powder into the creek.
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