Full Citation
Title: Disproportionality and Coal Waste in Appalachia
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2018
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Abstract: Coal mining operations in Appalachia generate massive quantities of sludge-like waste, often laced with unsafe levels of toxic chemicals. Coal companies primarily store this waste behind large dam structures—called coal impoundments—that can be hundreds of feet tall and store billions of gallons of sludge. Impoundment failures in Appalachia have accounted for some of the largest technological and environmental disasters in U.S. history. Further, residents have expressed concerns about coal waste contaminating local drinking water. Despite these environmental risks, little is known about the spatial distribution of coal impoundments—and whether the facilities disproportionately burden disadvantaged communities. This dissertation includes three articles that examine various questions about the distribution of coal impoundments across space and how residents perceive of the risks related to them. The first article, published in Rural Sociology, uses the methods of quantitative environmental inequality assessment to test whether neighborhood-level poverty and unemployment are significant predictors of impoundment proximity. The second paper, accepted for publication at Society and Natural Resources, tests whether impoundment proximity is associated with poverty changes from 1990 to 2000 in Central Appalachia. The third paper uses unique survey data to examine the public’s risk perceptions of coal impoundments in Southern West Virginia.
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Authors: Greenberg, Pierce, L
Institution: Washington State University
Department: Sociology
Advisor: Don Dillman
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Natural Resource Management
Countries: United States