No Way!!! West Virginia Streams Contaminated By Mountaintop Removal Wastes Have Fewer Fish!

[hatrack]

Appalachian streams polluted with mountaintop mining runoff have less than half as many fish species as non-impacted streams, according to new U.S. Geological Survey research. The research, announced July 1, examined fish diversity and abundance in the Guyandotte River basin of West Virginia, documenting elevated selenium and electrical conductivity levels from mining runoff in streams where fish communities were degraded.

Waterways affected by mountaintop mining have about one-third as many fish as non-impacted streams, said the study, due to persistent water degradation effects associated with mining.

Nathaniel Hitt, a USGS research fish biologist and the study's lead author, said there is no evidence that fish communities recover over time from water quality degradation caused by mountaintop mining runoff.

“Our results indicate that headwater mining may be limiting fish communities by restricting the prey base available for fish,” Hitt said in the announcement. “For instance, fish species with specialized diets of stream insects were more likely to be lost from the streams over time than fish species with more diverse diets.”

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-03/west-virginia-fish-populations-dwindle-in-streams-impacted-by-mountaintop-mining.html

[Shrike47]

1. Who would have foreseen that?