No mining activity is free from adverse environmental consequences no matter the tall claims of governments here and elsewhere. Those living in the vicinity of the mining areas are well aware of the repercussions of coal mining including the acid mine drainage which has already polluted two rivers in Jaintia Hills and which have yet to be certified as ‘pollution free,’ till date. Naturally the reopening up of coal mining activities via the legal route and ostensibly with the adoption of scientific mining methods has created a sense of fear that not just the rivers would be polluted but forests would be cut down mercilessly to expand the areas under open cast coal mining, which is the only method other than rat hole mining.
There have been warnings from different quarters including the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL) that the impact on vegetation and forest cover using open case mining would be much greater than the improvised rat-hole mining would have caused.The CMPDIL officials aver that rat hole mining would not result in subsidence of huge tracts of land. Geologists from the state as well as those from the Indian School of Mines have said that the coal seams in Meghalaya are shallow and scientific or open cast mining would not be economically viable nor environmentally sustainable. But because the National Green Tribunal (NGT) insists on scientific mining which it believes will ensure that water and other forms of pollution would be controlled and accounted for instead of the archaic rat-hole mining method which has claimed several lines of miners, due to sudden flooding of mines, going scientific is the way forward.
Now that people are more informed about the consequences of coal mining such as extensive land degradation and habitat destruction they have started to voice their concerns and rightly so. Surface mining, or strip mining, involves removing large areas of earth to access coal deposits. This process leads to significant land degradation, destroying habitats and displacing wildlife. It has already been seen that wherever coal has been mined and when the mines are subsequently abandoned, the landscape is often barren and infertile, with lasting negative impacts on biodiversity. Additionally, the runoff from mining sites has polluted water sources and rivers through acid mine drainage and the toxins released by heavy metals and sulfuric acid. This contamination is highly toxic to aquatic life and poses significant risks to human health. And now with so-called scientific coal mining the use of heavy machinery would involve dumping of wastewater from mining operations into the rivers. Coal mining contributes heavily to air pollution through the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, during the mining process. Dust from mining activities also pollutes the air, further exacerbating respiratory problems. Already the coke units in East Jaintia Hills have been releasing greenhouse gasses and heavy metals in the air which have damaged the environment. There has to be a more environmentally sustainable way for Meghalaya to earn its revenue than through extractive industries.