On October 11, 2000, a breakthrough of Martin County Coal Corporation's coal waste impoundment released 250 million gallons of slurry in near Inez, Kentucky. The 72-acre surface impoundment for coal processing waste materials broke through into a nearby underground coal mine. Although the spill caused no loss of human life, environmental damage was significant, and local water supplies were disrupted. This incident prompted Congress to request the National Research Council to examine ways to reduce the potential for similar accidents in the future. This book covers the engineering practices and standards for coal waste impoundments and ways to evaluate, improve, and monitor them; the accuracy of mine maps and ways to improve surveying and mapping of mines; and alternative technologies for coal slurry disposal and utilization. The book contains advice for multiple audiences, including the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Office of Surface Mining, and other federal agencies; state and local policymakers and regulators; the coal industry and its consultants; and scientists and engineers.

Excerpt from Coal Mine Surveying The rapid depletion of the primitive forests of America by fires and axe in recent years has raised the price of wood so rapidly that the mining industry is becoming alarmed as to its future supply of the big timber of which it has hitherto been such a prodigal consumer. Economy in the use of timber has been essential to commercial success in European mining for several generations and it was to the Old World that our operators went for their first systems of timberless mining. The use of steel and masonry for the support of mine shafts and tunnels has long been practised in Europe not only because of dear timber but because most mines there are considered to be long-term investments rather than temporary speculations. As this replacement of timber supports by other material involves no new mining system and has been thoroughly covered by other writers, it will not be described in this treatise. Though most of the mining methods considered consume some timber, their economy in that respect is so marked as to justify the use of a title Mining without Timber. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.