Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Contaminates Snowpack across a Broad Region.

ABSTRACT: Mountaintop removal coal mining is a source of downstream pollution. Here, we show that mountaintop removal coal mining also pollutes ecosystems downwind. We sampled regional snowpack near the end of winter along a transect of sites located 3-60 km downwind of coal mining in the Elk River valley of British Columbia, Canada. Vast quantities of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), a toxic class of organic contaminants, are emitted and transported atmospherically far from emission sources. Summed PAC (ΣPAC) snowpack concentrations ranged from 29-94,866 ng/L. Snowpack ΣPAC loads, which account for variable snowpack depth, ranged from <10 μg/m² at sites >50 km southeast of the mines to >1000 μg/m² at sites in the Elk River valley near mining operations, with one site >15,

SUBMITTER: Cooke CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11223467 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature