GEOL 005 Chapter 3: Geol_5_-_Fossil_fuels_consquences
17 May 2020
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Document Summary
Consequences of fossil fuel extraction: land/ecosystem damage, water pollution including, acid mine drainage, contamination by fracking, oil spills and socio-political ramifications of oil production. Consequences of combustion: acid rain, smog, global warming global in scale; covered next week. Requires that mined land be restored to allow pre-mining use. Reclamation includes disposing of wastes, contouring the land, replanting vegetation. Expensive: mining companies are required to restore after they finish mining. Landscape degradation from oil sands mining: regulatory framework for mitigating effects still catching up , would mining oil shales in the western us leave similar destruction, don"t have similar regulations as with coal mining. The us has the biggest resource of oil shales in places like utah and wyoming. Acidity the ph scale the measure of the amount of hydrogen ion in waters: 0 to 14, high ph is basic low ph is acidic.
