The Legacy of Surface Mining and The 4R
The Legacy of Surface Mining and The 4R
The Legacy of Surface Mining and The 4R
Short communication
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article history:
Received 21 August 2015 Surface mining is a global phenomenon. When dealing with the land disturbances caused by surface
Received in revised form 4 April 2016 mining operations, the terms remediation, reclamation, restoration and rehabilitation (R4) are
Accepted 23 July 2016 commonly used interchangeably or otherwise vaguely defined. Expectations associated with these
Available online 30 July 2016 terms may differ significantly from one stakeholder to another, however. Regulators, industry,
environmental practitioners, local communities and the general public therefore stand to benefit from a
Keywords: precise terminology based on agreed-upon end-goals. The latter range from the avoidance of exposure to
Surface mining pollutants (remediation) to the full recovery of the original ecosystem (restoration). Although frequently
Remediation
claimed as the end-goal, restoration may often not be unachievable, because of altered hydrology, habitat
Reclamation
fragmentation, contamination, climate change, prohibitive costs and other environmental and socio-
Restoration
Rehabilitation economic boundary conditions. Mostly, the definitions of reclamation and rehabilitation may overlap in
Resource extraction their definitions and approaches. Here we attempt the creation of a road-map that can clearly translate
end-goals for each of the R4 terms. According to the definitions encountered and exposed here,
reclamation, which aims to recover key ecosystem services and biogeochemical functions within a
replacement ecosystem or rehabilitation, which implies a repurposing of the landscape, may be the best
approaches to deal with surface mining legacies.
ã 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.07.011
1462-9011/ã 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
228 A.T. Lima et al. / Environmental Science & Policy 66 (2016) 227–233
has explored nature for fuel: first trees and peat, then coal and solutions for surface mining legacies. But more important than
lastly oil. Although there are other examples of surface mining redefining these R4 terms is to clarify objectives for site end-use
impacts, here we compare three examples of still active exploita- and expectations each involved part has regarding post-mining
tion: peat extraction in Ireland, coal mining in Appalachia (United land-use. In lights of previous idiosyncratic literature e.g. (Society
States) and oil sands exploitation in Alberta (Canada). We revisit for Ecological Restoration International Science and Policy
the R4 terminology in the context of surface mining and propose a Working Group, 2004), definitions have been established vaguely
decision tree to help identify the appropriate R4 strategy based on to encompass a wide variety of R4 practices. However, the goals
the desired end-point for the post-mining site. A discussion is and end-points of R4 programs should be established at the
followed regarding the actions taken at each case-study and earliest possible time, preferably even before mining operations
whether they achieved the envisioned R4 end-point. begin (Fig. 1) to avoid post-mining adversities. Fig. 1 was developed
based on Table 1 definitions and consists of an attempt to simplify
2. R4 terminology revisited R4 by defining specific targets and end-goals. Targets are explicit
environmental compartments, functions or services passive of
Classic ecological terminology note rehabilitation, reclamation improvement after impacted by resource exploitation. End-point is
and restoration as terms with similar goals (Society for Ecological the site state or condition after accomplishing a given R4 measure.
Restoration International Science and Policy Working Group, Below we explore each R4 and exemplify the definitions.
2004), where rehabilitation has been identified with managerial Contamination control, i.e. remediation, needs to occur before
urban and agricultural usages (Box, 1974; Haigh, 2007; Wali, 1996). re-establishing a land-use. Therefore, remediation targets a
The most frequent R4 terms in scientific literature are restoration specific target being it soil, water, human health and proposes
and remediation (Fig. S1). To avoid further confusion on the topic, remedial actions to solve it, aiming at a decontaminated or
we chose to define rehabilitation as more managerial and contaminant-free site (end-goal) (Fig. 1). Restoration proposes to
reclamation as the more ecological term (see Table 1). bring back the pre-existing ecosystem. This definition aims to
The call for more uniformity and consistency in R4 terminology classically (re)establish the whole ecosystem function (target) and
is not new (Wali, 1996). Clear definitions of the R4 terms may be therefore bring back the exact pre-existing ecosystem before
key to the participatory planning and communication of long-term resource exploitation impacted the site (end-point). This end-point
Table 1
Summary of the main characteristics of remediation, rehabilitation, reclamation and restoration. Note that remediation refers to soil remediation, not groundwater or other
environmental compartments.
No
Fig. 1. Proposed R4 decision tree based on targets and end-goals for post-mining recovery.
is somewhat ambitious, since the pre-existing ecosystem may be projections, new legal and spatial planning constraints, and shifts
too idealistic to achieve and, if unscathed, may the same ecosystem in public perception. Thus, the decision tree presented in Fig. 1
may have evolved into something very different than the pre- should not be viewed as a rigid, one-time process, but rather as an
existing one (Rooney et al., 2012a, 2012b). If re-establishing the adaptive tool to help maintain consistency during the (re)
original is not feasible due to temporal considerations, but we assessment of environmental site management options under
would like to recover ecosystem services that the original spatially and temporally variable boundary conditions.
ecosystem provided. decision makers arrive at reclamation (Foley
et al., 2005; Grant et al., 2008; Powter et al., 2012). Reclamation 3. Case studies
may be very similar to restoration, but in practical terms, it targets
one aspect of ecosystem services such as the biogeochemical Surface mining of peat, coal and oil sands will likely continue to
function. The route to achieve biogeochemical function, such as expand in the near future, given the increasing global demand for
denitrification, may not use the same exact species (flora) of the energy, and for peat also for soil amendments and horticulture.
pre-existing ecosystem, but other species that deliver the same Mining is expected to be most intense in those regions hosting the
function. The end-point of reclamation is then a replacement largest known reserves Canada, Russia, USA, Brazil, China and
ecosystem. Rehabilitation, defined here as a managerial term, Australia (Fig. 2). While land perturbations by surface mining of
measures costs and benefits of maintaining environmental quality peat, coal and oil sands share similarities, they also pose different
and optimize local land management capacity and includes challenges that require adapted environmental management
practices such as agriculture, forestry, urbanization, etc (Box, approaches. In what follows, we summarized in Fig. 1 to analyze
1974; Haigh, 2007; Wali, 1996). Rehabilitation tackles site as and compare three cases of peat, coal and oil sands surface mining
human-service provision, either by making use of the area for (Table 2).
agricultural related activities, targeting the production of e.g. food,
or for developing infrastructures in which the end-point would be 3.1. Peat mining in Ireland
either green-spaces (such as parks) or the built-environment (such
as housing/industry) (Fig. 1). Peat extraction in Ireland has been ongoing since the Middle
In reality, surface mining operations covering large geographic Ages. Most degradation of raised bog habitat has resulted from
areas may require a spatial mix of R4 strategies, while land end- peat harvesting for household fuel, energy production and
uses may have to be revaluated periodically, as a result of, among horticulture, as well as afforestation and grazing. As a result, by
others, scientific and technological advances, adjustments to cost 2001 only 8% of raised bogs and 21% of blanket bogs were still
230 A.T. Lima et al. / Environmental Science & Policy 66 (2016) 227–233
Fig. 2. Worldwide reserves of peat (km2), coal (tons) and oil sands (barrels). Sources: U.S. Geological Survey 2012 Report on Mineral Commodity Summaries, British
Petroleum 2008 Statistical Review of World Energy, and International Peat Society (www.peatsociety.org, accessed January, 2014).
A.T. Lima et al. / Environmental Science & Policy 66 (2016) 227–233 231
Table 2
Overview of the three study cases: peat mining in Ireland, coal mining in Appalachia and tar oil in Alberta.
intact in the Republic of Ireland (Bullock et al., 2012; Foss et al., (Roenker, 2013). Almost 7% of the land surface in this region was
2001). In addition to habitat loss, peat mining has raised concerns disrupted by mountain top mining between 1992 and 2002
about environmental side-effects, in particular surface water (Bernhardt et al., 2012). Valley fills made of waste rock from the
quality deterioration driven by sulphide oxidation and excess mines contaminate streams, with increased concentrations of toxic
dissolved organic matter released by peat subsidence (Dykes and elements, such as Se, Pb and Cd, posing health risks to humans and
Kirk, 2006). wildlife (Agouridis et al., 2012; Milici and Dennen, 2009).
In peat extraction, there is very little transformation or The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977) calls for
processing of the ore. In the absence of major contaminant rehabilitation, reclamation and restoration of the land disturbed by
legacies of peat mining, there is little need for remediation. Soil surface mining operations. Although an estimated US$ 7.2 billion
remediation is the process of eliminating or neutralizing contami- has been spent on the recovery of surface coal mining sites in
nation (see Table 1, Fig. 1). Restoration is the stated end-goal of Appalachia (Table 2), the outcomes have been mixed. Efforts to
disturbed peatland recovery in Ireland (Foss et al., 2001), i.e. the date have often failed to recover ecosystem productivity (restora-
implementation of an ecosystem very close to the original (see tion), while water quality issues have persisted, or even worsened,
Table 1, Fig. 1). Around 14% of the disturbed area is on its way to because of the severe disruption of hydrological and ecological
recovery, so far at an estimated cost of s23 million (Table 2). With connectivity, the loss of soil carbon and nutrients, and contaminant
peat accretion rates on the order of millimeters per year, the remobilization (Miller and Zégre, 2014; Zipper et al., 2011).
eventual restoration of pristine bog ecosystems will require many According to the developed R4 criteria (Fig. 1), large scale
more decades, if not centuries (Keddy, 2010). Furthermore, part of ecosystem restoration in sensu stricto is therefore unlikely to be
the disturbed peatland is being turned into forest and grassland for successful. Because of the contaminant legacies, remediation is a
grazing, that is land uses different from the original ones (Bullock required component of the environmental management of the coal
et al., 2012). This implies a different land-use than the original mining legacies rehabilitation and reclamation efforts have
ecosystem (i.e. something else than restoration). The actual end- remediation. Remediation activities should be integrated with land
use for some sites around the Irish bog landscape are now forestry reclamation and rehabilitation, depending on site conditions and a
or agricultural land, and this, according to Fig. 2 correspond to regional spatial planning process that takes into account environ-
rehabilitation. mental costs and benefits. Extensive geotechnical interventions are
What started as restoration plan in Ireland has thus evolved into likely to continue to remain necessary to manage soil erosion and
a mix of restoration and rehabilitation/reclamation practices, in water quality.
order to balance ecological, social, cultural and economic benefits.
Although land-use management is an evolving matter, peat post- 3.3. Oil sands in Alberta
mining land may have better “restored” if end-goals were better
clarified. Oil sand exploitation in the Athabasca region is relatively
recent, beginning in 1967. Rivers and streams were diverted, forest,
3.2. Coal mining in Appalachia wetlands and mineral soil cleared and drained before mining
activities began (Grant et al., 2008). From 1967 to 2006, nearly 500
Appalachia has been mined for coal as early as the American square kilometers (or 14% of the surface mineable area) was
Revolution (18th century) and intensively since the 1970s, when affected by surface mining operations (Fig. 3). As of January 2013,
mountain top removal mining became the primary extraction 715 square kilometers of boreal ecosystems have been disturbed
method (Bernhardt et al., 2012; Milici and Dennen, 2009) (Fig. 4). (Pembina Institute, 2015). A highly controversial legacy are the
The mining region covers roughly 5 million ha across six states end-pit lakes that store residual waters from the oil sands
232 A.T. Lima et al. / Environmental Science & Policy 66 (2016) 227–233
Fig. 3. Examples of the areal expansion of land disturbance by surface mining in Appalachia (top) and northern Alberta (bottom) from 1984 (left) to 2012 (right).
Source: Google Maps, December, 2013.
extraction processes (Kasperski and Mikula, 2011). The waters To gauge the progress of reclamation, monitoring programs should
contain a variety of contaminants, including naphtenic acids, be designed that allow one to determine the spatial and temporal
polycyclic aromatic compounds and toxic trace metals. As for changes in biogeochemical processes and flows, subsurface
mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia, remediation is required, biodiversity and microbial activity, hydrological connectivity,
while reclamation, rather than restoration, is the most feasible and on- and off-site transport of contaminants.
course of action for dealing with the land disturbances.
So far, 14% of the disturbed landscape has been recovered to the 4. Conclusions
oil sands operators’ standards (Grant et al., 2008), often with
extensive geotechnical interventions to control land form, soil Surface mining worldwide exerts significant pressures on land,
properties and hydrology (Price et al., 2013). As stated by the water and biological resources, hence, increasing the demand for
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the aim of their the sustainable recovery of the impacted landscapes. Present and
reclamation efforts is to “return the land to a sustainable future endeavors can reap the benefits of past mistakes and land-
landscape”. The “sustainable landscape” concept, however, is use exploitations. The planning, implementation and evaluation of
rather flexible and open to interpretation. According to the R4 appropriate solutions are complex, multi-stakeholder undertak-
terminology proposed here, the planning, implementation and ings that require consideration of diverse environmental, eco-
evaluation of reclamation projects should be based on a clear nomic and social impacts. A meaningful dialogue between the
identification of the sustainability objectives and their corre- stakeholders benefits from consistent, translated R4 terminology
sponding indicators. A critical assessment of the loss of ecosystem to designate the activities to be carried out. In this paper, we
services incurred as a result of the mining activities (e.g., Rooney propose a simplification of the R4 terminology based on objectives
et al., 2012a, 2012b) should constitute the first step in planning the for site recovery that are formulated in terms of environmental
recovery of ecosystem services and functions through reclamation. quality, human health, land end-use, ecosystem structure and
A.T. Lima et al. / Environmental Science & Policy 66 (2016) 227–233 233
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