Resource-based environmental inequality in Appalachia: A case study of coal waste impoundments

Pierce Lewis Greenberg

Coal waste impoundments pose numerous health and disaster risks to people in Appalachia, yet few studies examine the social characteristics of communities near impoundments from an environmental inequality perspective. These hazardous facilities hold billions of gallons of "slurry," a toxic, sludge-like byproduct of coal extraction and have caused some of the largest human and environmental disasters in U.S. history. Substantial concerns also exist about the quality of water for residents who live near impoundments. This thesis identifies significant predictors of a community's proximity to a coal impoundment. The empirical analyses are contextualized within treadmill of production theory, which posits that the expansionary logic of capitalism leads to an ecologically degrading cycle of production, technological advancement, and worker displacement. The treadmill process enables environmental inequality by siting wastes and hazards near disadvantaged populations. Most studies find empirical support for treadmill theory by examining "end of pipe" hazards at the last stage of the production process. In contrast, this analysis examines environmental degradation at the site of resource extraction, a "beginning of pipe" approach. This work advances the conception of a resource-based environmental inequality that addresses the unequal distribution of hazards and risks created by extractive industries. Regression analyses are used to examine correlations between place proximity to impoundments and variables related to economic disadvantage, mining industry influence, and rural isolation. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results indicate that various socioeconomic, mining-related, and rural variables are significant predictors of community proximity to an impoundment. Spatial regression models, which control for spatial dependence between places, identify the following predictors of place proximity to an impoundment: 1) percent unemployment, 2) percent no high school diploma, 3) distance to the nearest abandoned and sealed mine, 4) count of mines within a 160.9-kilometer (100-mile) radius, and 5) mining employment. Overall, the findings indicate that communities with high unemployment and mining characteristics are likely to be near coal waste impoundments, even after controlling for spatial dependence. These findings support the treadmill of production hypothesis. Additional resource-based environmental inequality research can apply this model of analysis across different scales, geographic units, and natural resources.

Resource-based environmental inequality in Appalachia: A case study of coal waste impoundments

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