Frankfort, Kentucky - Mountaintop mining has obliterated flowering trees and plants that honeybees need for food in the central Appalachians, and some Kentucky lawmakers are asking coal companies to plant pollen-producing vegetation when they finish digging.
A nonbinding measure passed Thursday in a House committee.
Before the vote, Tammy Horn, a bee researcher at Eastern Kentucky University's Environmental Research Institute, exhorted lawmakers to approve the measure that would "encourage" coal companies to plant a variety of nectar- and pollen-producers on mountains that have been deforested by mining.
In doing so, Horn called attention to a problem that has received little attention in the debate over so-called mountaintop removal mining: how it affects Appalachia's insect population, particularly honeybees that need flowering plants to survive.
In mountaintop removal mining, forests are cleared and rock is blasted apart to get to coal buried underneath. The leftover dirt, rock and rubble is dumped into nearby valleys, sometimes covering streams. The practice has for years been a source of contention between coal operators, who say it is the most effective way to get at the coal, and environmentalists, who say it has irreversibly harmed the mountains and streams.
Coal companies usually plant grasses on mined land -- not the native sourwoods, tulip poplars, goldenrods, asters and other blooming trees and plants that bees need.
"That creates a desert from the bee's perspective," Horn told the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment, which typically gets first crack at any legislation affecting Kentucky's coal industry. That committee, stacked with lawmakers sympathetic to mining, unanimously approved legislation on Thursday that calls for the use of such vegetation in land reclamation.
The legislation simply encourages coal companies to plant flowering trees and plants. The sponsor of the measure, state Rep. Fitz Steele, D-Hazard, assured fellow lawmakers that it would not require coal companies to comply.
"It's totally at their option if they want to do it," Steele said.
Even so, Horn lauded the measure as a step toward helping to stabilize decreasing bee populations in the Appalachians because it puts state regulatory agencies on notice that reclamation plans aimed at helping bees should be approved.
Some Kentucky coal companies, Horn said, have already begun planting trees and other vegetation specifically for honeybees. In doing so, she said, they have helped restore some of the pre-mining diversity to the Appalachians.
"By planting trees and under canopy that are high-nectar and high-pollen producers, coal companies can better replicate the diverse Appalachian forest landscape that was in place prior to surface mining," Horn said.
Don Gibson, director of permitting and regulatory affairs for International Coal Group in Kentucky, said his company recognizes the need for research at a time when a mysterious ailment known as colony collapse disorder has been decimating the U.S. honeybee population. Gibson said the company has 30 beehives on former coal mine sites where blooming trees and plants have been added to provide food.
Kentucky Coal Association Vice President David Moss said mining companies realize the difficulties honeybees are facing nationally and that they want to find ways to help the tiny insects.
Moss said the efforts of coal companies on behalf of bees contradict claims by environmentalists that mountaintop mining creates moonscapes.
"We are officially saying that this is the farthest from the truth, that many positive things happen from reclamation, and this is another example," he said.
Harlan County resident Carl Shoupe, a member of the environmental group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, said coal mining hurts creatures large and small and that the mountains would have ample blooming plants for bees if coal companies didn't destroy them.
"That's what we've been trying to tell everybody," Shoupe said. "This mountaintop removal is just devastating the whole ecosystem, and no one wants to listen."
I am writing with regards to Roger Alford’s recent article, “ENVIRONMENT Bees hurt by mountaintop-removal coal mining Ky. lawmakers urge mines to replant flowering vegetation.” I have read many articles about the adverse affects of mountain top removal, but this is the first article I have read that focuses on the bee populations of Appalachia. I was interested by the title of the article and interested and saddened to learn about yet another destructive element of MTR.
While I am happy that this subject was covered, I am discouraged by many aspects of the article. First of all, the bill that is being introduced is extremely weak. To “encourage” mining companies to plant flowering plants for bees is not what a law should do; it should mandate what mining companies do. In my opinion, MTR should be completely outlawed because of its dangerous and destructive effects on not only bees, but as Carl Shoupe says at the end of the article, due to its devastating effects on the entire ecosystem- including humans! To return to the feeble bill that is being introduced, I am also very discouraged by state Rep. Fitz Steele, D-Hazard’s reassurance that the law will not require coal companies to comply with the legislation. I highly doubt that any philanthropic efforts from coal companies will happen, so encouraging is futile. Although the article sites that some companies have begun to plant flowering trees for bees, I am still of the opinion that this bill is not strong enough and might even distract from the severity of MTR. By encouraging coal companies to plant trees after they have already destroyed an entire mountain distracts from the fact that they destroyed an entire mountain, polluted the rivers and ecosystems of the rivers, and created toxic sludge that remains in the community. To provide a metaphor, this would be like cutting a person’s head off and then generously agreeing to give the person a “Chia Pet” head.
I am also frustrated with some of the diction of this article. It seems to me that the author is lauding the coal company’s efforts to mitigate the damages that the companies themselves are causing. I would like to point out that by planting flowering plants on mountains that have been destroyed will not, “help the tiny insects.” It may mitigate some damage, but coal companies are not helping bees. The language of the article gives coal companies an image of being ecologically friendly bee- lovers, when this is clearly not true. Coal companies exist in order to make money by extracting coal from the earth. Their concern is not the bees, the ecosystem, not even the people.
I strongly encourage all reporters to report about the truth of mountain top removal. It is destructive for everything and everybody. As reporters write about the effects of mountain top removal on the flora, fauna, soil, water, and people of Appalachia, please remember to make the connection that these are all related. Any mitigation efforts that coal companies attempt will never be enough because they are destroying mountains, polluting communities, and producing greenhouse gases. Please remember to interview members of the Appalachia community to expose how mountain top removal is affecting their health and safety. We have to remember that this is not only an issue of bees and flowers, but of destruction, pollution, and human rights.