
How coal mining harms the environment
Coal mining harms our lands, waters, and wildlife even before burning contributes to coal air pollution and climate change

You may be familiar with coal mining’s environmental impacts in terms of air pollution and climate change. In addition to degrading air quality and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, extracting coal harms our lands, waters, and wildlife.
Here are some of the adverse effects of coal mining on the physical environment:
Damaging the land
Surface mining is a method of coal mining in which huge machines remove layers of soil and rock to expose underground coal deposits. Companies clear forests and strip away the earth in the process, leaving behind desolate lands incapable of supporting wildlife. Not only is excessive logging devastating for wildlife habitats and their inhabitants, but it also accelerates erosion. Without vegetation to anchor the soil, precipitation can carry away loose topsoil into nearby waterways. The sediment can kill fish and plants as well as clog streams, disrupting their natural flow and decreasing available aquatic habitat.
Mountaintop removal is an especially destructive form of surface coal mining. Once the land is cleared, explosives are used to blast off the mountaintop. Blasting can remove nearly 600 feet or more of elevation — more than the height of the Washington Monument. Excess rock and soil are then dumped into large, downward-sloping runoff paths created in adjacent river valleys for disposal. These paths, called valley fills, permanently bury headwater streams, which are the essential tributaries where all river networks begin. More than 2,000 miles of headwater streams have been buried due to mountaintop removal, causing critical losses in wildlife habitat, clean water sources, and natural benefits such as nutrient regulation and flood control.
Polluting water
Beyond headwater stream loss, mountaintop removal has severe impacts on water quality that can persist for decades post-mining. According to a report by the EPA, water quality degradation from mountaintop mines and valley fills can reach levels fatally toxic to wildlife. Valley fills drastically increase salinity and metal concentrations downstream, endangering sensitive organisms such as salamanders and certain fish species.
Of all the watershed degradation issues in coal mining areas, acid mine drainage is one of the most serious. Acid mine drainage (AMD) occurs when water reacts with sulfur-bearing minerals in rocks, resulting in highly acidic water that contains toxic heavy metals. It poses a severe threat to wildlife and renders affected waterways unusable for drinking and recreation. In some areas, the water flowing from coal mines can burn your skin because it is so acidic.
AMD can also turn the water an alarming orange or red color — a widespread problem in central Appalachia, where many streams are tainted with orange, acidic water. Acid mine drainage is a significant water quality issue in the US, where it degrades approximately 12,400 miles of rivers and streams, posing health risks to ecosystems and nearby communities.

Threats to biodiversity
Each step of the coal mining process poses threats to biodiversity. Clearing forests for surface mining can fragment critical wildlife habitat, displacing or killing the species that reside there. Valley fills bury headwater streams, which provide refuge for rich communities of aquatic life and support species found nowhere else in the river system. Since these headwater streams also form the foundations of stable river food webs, disturbances from coal mining can trigger cascading effects throughout the entire river ecosystem.
Furthermore, water contamination from coal mining has devastating effects on the wildlife in and around streams. Scientists who analyzed central Appalachian streams impacted by coal mining found a 32% decline in the number of species present and a 53% decline in the total number of invertebrates, fish, and salamanders compared to stream sites unaffected by mining operations.
Selenium pollution in water from coal mining is associated with the decline in sensitive fish populations and deformities in fish and birds. In regions of British Columbia and Montana affected by coal mining, fish with missing gills, misshapen skulls, and crooked spines have been recorded. The concentrations of these pollutants in animals can increase as they make their way up the food chain in a process known as biomagnification. This means that even concentrations with minimal effects on organisms lower in the food chain can have severe consequences for higher-level predators, such as fish, birds, and humans, due to the accumulation of toxins in their bodies.
From devastated landscapes to polluted waterways, the environmental impacts of coal mining are extensive, reaching far beyond greenhouse gas emissions alone. These are not just local issues that restoring mining sites can correct. Ecosystem disruptions often have ripple effects that can lead to irreversible losses or damages, and mining impacts can persist even after restoration efforts.
The consequences of coal mining highlight the importance of the renewable energy transition. By supporting policies and initiatives that prioritize renewable energy alternatives, we can mitigate these harms to the environment and wildlife to preserve nature for future generations.
Where is coal mined in the United States?
According to the U.S. Energy Administration, we mined for coal in 22 states in 2022.
The top 5 states for coal production are Wyoming, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kentucky.
States where coal mining happens.
Alabama
Alaska
Colorado
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming
Topics
Authors
Ellen Montgomery
Director, Public Lands Campaign, Environment America Research & Policy Center
Ellen runs campaigns to protect America's beautiful places, from local beachfronts to remote mountain peaks. She sits on the Steering Committee of the Arctic Defense Campaign and co-coordinates the Climate Forests Campaign. Ellen previously worked as the organizing director for Environment America’s Climate Defenders campaign and managed grassroots campaign offices across the country. Ellen lives in Denver, where she likes to hike in Colorado's mountains.
Amelia English
Conservation Intern