Incorporating Sustainable Development Principles into Coal Mine Design: Regulatory and Policy Barriers in the United States

Traditional engineering design of coal mining operations does not consider the environmental and social aspects of sustainable development. Previous work has shown that optimum coal mining designs incorporating sustainability can be developed using a systems engineering approach, geographic informat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of sustainability policy and practice 2013, Vol.8 (3), p.57-64
Main Authors: Craynon, John R., Sarver, Emily, Karmis, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coal
Coal industry
Coal mines
Coal mining
Design
Design engineering
Ecology
Engineering
Geographic information systems
Mining industry
Redesign
Remote sensing
Social factors
Statutes
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Systems engineering
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Traditional engineering design of coal mining operations does not consider the environmental and social aspects of sustainable development. Previous work has shown that optimum coal mining designs incorporating sustainability can be developed using a systems engineering approach, geographic information systems, and optimized models of desired outcomes. The regulatory environment in the United States, however, does not allow for such a reasoned approach, due to statutes and regulations that focus on a singular environmental media, overly-constrained outcomes, and conflicting approaches. Though the legal framework allows for the consideration of public input, it is simply not designed to encourage a public ecology approach to mine design, which would ensure that the proper outcomes of a mining operation could be optimized to meet economic, environmental and social needs. Recommendations will be offered for a redesign of the regulatory structure and for policies which would allow the adoption of the more innovative and holistic approaches previously suggested.
ISSN:2325-1166
2325-1182
DOI:10.18848/2325-1166/CGP/v08i03/55387