Land Resources: Natural Capital and Extraction Industries

1
Land Resources Natural Capital and Extraction
Industries
overlooking a clearcut, by Weyerhaeuser, along
the boundary of a protected old growth forest in
Willamette National Forest, Oregon.
Gold mine and acid waste pit/Montana
2
What supports and drives economics?

• There are three types of capital natural
  capital (natural
• resources), human capital (peoples physical and
  mental
• talents) and physical or manufactured resources
  (items made
• from natural resources) (Miller p.584)

Natural Capital
Manufactured Resources
Natural Capital
Human Capital
3
Part I Natural Capital Forests
Tropical Rainforest
Northern Coniferous Forest
Eastern Deciduous Forests
Temperate Rainforest
Eastern Hardwood Forest
4
Whenever people have lived in forests, they have
always cut down trees

• Over the past 5,000 years, humans have reduced
  the forests from approx. 50 of the earths land
  surface to less than 20. At present rates,
  Thailand will have no forests left in 25 years,
  the Phillipines in less than 20 years, and Nepal
  in 15 years. Paper products now use 25 of the
  worlds timber harvest. http//www.dbc.uci.edu/su
  stain/bio65/lec15/b65lec15.htm

5
Tropical Rainforests

• At least 80,000 acres (32,300 ha) of forest are
  cut each day and another 80,000 acres (32,300 ha)
  of forest are degraded. Along with them, the
  planet loses as many as several hundred species
  to extinction, the vast majority of which have
  never been documented by science.
• http//www.dbc.uci.edu/sustain/bio65/lec15/b65lec
  15.htm

6
Tropical Rainforest Degradation
7
Eastern Hardwood Forests

• White oak (Quercus alba) 
• One of the most valued North American hardwoods.
  Range Southern Quebec, Ontario to Minnesota and
  Nebraska, down to Texas and Florida. It was also
  the most important oak in the eastern forest for
  Native Americans as it was used for both food and
  medicine.
• (http//forestry.about.com/library/galler/g-nats_
  qalba_htm)

8
Coniferous Temperate Forests (includes Rain
Forests)
9
Who is responsible for forest management?

• US Forest Service which is under the Dept. of
  Agriculture
• Statute governing management of the forests
  National Forest Management Act of 1976

10
How is the management of Coniferous Temperate and
Rain Forests of U.S. going?

• Much of the timber that is harvested from
  National Forests is sold at a great financial
  loss
• Lodgepole pines in Idaho's Targhee National
  Forest sold to timber companies for about 1 each
• The Forest Service sells 600-year old Sitka
  spruce trees from Alaska's Tongass National
  Forest for 2 or less the trees are chopped into
  pulp for paper production.
• http//www.dbc.uci.edu/sustain/bio65/lec15/b65lec
  15.htm

11
Natural Capital Degradation Deforestation

• Erosion of soils and sedimentation of streams
• -increased sediments in streams increase
  -absorption of light energy and temperature of
  water
• -sedimentation covers critical nursery sites for
  trout and salmon
• -sedimentation suffocates macroinvertebrates and
  fish eggs
• Loss of carbon sink
• Loss of habitat and ecological niches
• Fragmentation of Habitats/Edge Effects
• Drying at the edges of logged areas leads to a
  creeping loss of plants and trees
• Many animals will not cross cleared areas and
  thus lose important food and water resources
  pollination may be disrupted.

12
Sustainable Foresty Practices do not damage any
of the complex functions of a watershed, keeping
trees, water, fish and wildlife healthy and in
balance.
Coho salmon spawning in Lagunitas Creek.
Laws upheld by the EPA which protect watersheds
and the organisms reliant on clean water
include The Clean Water Act (1972) and The
Endangered Species Act (1973)
13
Sustainable forestry practices do not harvest
trees faster than they are replenished, and they
protect old growth and vulnerable areas.
14
Sustainable Forestry practices sharply reduce
road building into uncut forest areas.

• 18 of Forest Service lands -- the wilderness
  areas designated by Congress -- are currently
  protected from new road building. 
• An additional 31, or 60 million acres, are
  still free of roads but not permanently
  protected. 
• In December 2000 President Clinton published the
  Roadless Area Conservation rules to protect those
  60 million acres from road building and most
  logging.  
• (http//www.dbc.uci.edu/sustain/bio65/lec15/b65l
  ec15.htm)

15
Bush Administration actions to overturn or weaken
forest protection.

• 2003 Congress passes "Healthy Forests Initiative
  and President Bush signs into law The Healthy
  Forests Restoration Act.
• 2005 Overturned the Roadless Area Conservation
  Rules and gives states the right to decide
  whether or not to respect roadless areas.
• Revision of National Forest Management Act
  eliminates need to protect wildlife, eliminates
  requirement of scientific monitoring of effects
  on plants and animals, and restricts public
  participation in the planning process.
• (http//www.dbc.uci.edu/sustain/bio65/lec15/b65l
  ec15.htm)

16
Part II Minerals

• Finding , Removing, and Processing
• Non-renewable Mineral Resources

17
Extraction Techniques
Open Pit coal mine
Open Pit Uranium Mine
Mountaintop Removal Strip Mining
Dredging for Titanium
18
Environmental Impacts

• Destroys Ecosystems
• Sedimentation
• Aquatic organisms suffocate
• Destruction of fish hatcheries
• Increased water temperature (decrease oxygen)
• Thermal Water Pollution
• Warm water holds less oxygen
• Toxic wastes
• Solid and airborne radioactive wastes
• Acid waste leachates according to the EPA,
  mining has polluted about 40 of western
  watersheds
• Heavy metals (including arsenic, lead and
  mercury)

19
CERLA COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL
COMPENSATION AND LIABILITY

• 1980 LEGISLATION passed for the purpose of
  cleaning up hazardous waste sites in the U.S.
  that posed unacceptable risk to human or
  ecological health.
• Established a list of Superfund Sites there
  are many mine sites on this list.

20
Toxic Wastes on Public LandsBush
administration permits unlimited toxic waste
dumping by companies that mine for gold, silver,
copper and other precious metals on public lands
owned by U.S. taxpayers. http//www.progress.org
/2003/corpw34.htm

• More toxic waste is produced by hardrock mining
  than any other industry in America, as shown by
  the industrys own reports to EPA. 2.8 billion
  pounds of toxic waste were produced by hardrock
  mines in 2001including 366 million pounds of
  arsenic, 355 million pounds of lead and 4 million
  pounds of mercuryaccording to the most recent
  numbers released by the EPA last month.

21
Iron Mountain Mine Shasta County, California,
Superfund Sitehttp//www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/organiza
tional/scientific/nrda/NRDAiron.htm
22
Proposed 1,000 sq.mi Open Pit gold mine
threatens Bristol Bay 1/3 of the worlds
sockeye salmon worlds largest salmon run
including Chinook (King) salmon worlds most
productive salmon fishery (all 5 species of
Pacific salmon) 1/3 of U.S. Grizzly Bear
population 1 of 2 Freshwater seal populations in
the world One of Alaskas largest caribou herds
23
Gold Mines are a Source of Mercury Air
PollutionGold mines are the fifth largest
source of mercury air emissions in the U.S. They
produce fully 25 of all mercury air emissions
west of Texas.Yet there are no federal
regulations requiring gold mines to control their
mercury emissions.
http//www.earthworksaction.org/mercury.cfm
http//www.mineralpolicy.org/
24
Mercury poisoning

• http//www.goveg.com/contamination_mercury.asp?pf
  true
• http//www.nimd.go.jp/archives/english/tenji/a_co
  rner/a01.html
• http//www.bmf.ch/letters/news9905e.html - chap4_1

25
Biomagnification
26
Global Environmental Issues

• Krygyzstan 1998 truck from mine crashed through
  a bridge, spilling 1.7 tons of sodium cyanide
  which poisoned 2,500 people. 850 were
  hospitalized and at least 4 people died.
• Ghana, formerally known as The Gold Coast is the
  second largest producer of gold after South
  Africa
• 2001 Tailings dam burst sending thousands of
  metric tons of mine waste (cyanide and heavy
  metals) into the Asuman River.
• All life forms were killed and people were left
  without drinking water.

Kyrgyzstan Kumtor gold mine in Tien Shen
Mountains
Ghana, Wassa District,Tarkwa Gold mine
27
http//www.mineralpolicy.org/
28

• Cajamarca, Peru
• Yanacocha Gold mine est. 1992
• Farm Production has dropped
• Farmers under pressure to sell their land to
  mine
• Water has become contaminated
• Influx of job seekers has increased crime
• Local peoples ability for a sustainable,
  agricultural livlihood is threatened.
• Local people have been left out of the economic
  development of their community.
• Oct., 2003 Ecuador
• heavily-armed policemen raided
• the home of Carlos Zorrilla, a
• mining activist in the Intag
• cloudforest region of northwestern
• Ecuador. For over a decade, Carlos
• and his organization, DECOIN,
• have been working to protect this
• Biodiverse region from large scale
• Copper mining.
• http//www.mineralpolicy.org/

29
Mining as a Social Justice Issue

• Did Someone Die for That Diamond? Some diamonds
  have helped fund devastating civil wars in
  Africa, destroying the lives of millions.
  Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund
  armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the
  trade in conflict diamonds, worth billions of
  dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy
  arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the
  Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra
  Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7
  million lives.
• http//www.amnestyusa.org/diamonds/index.do

30
Remediation in Montana

• A very large number of mining sites are listed on
  the
• Federal National Priorities List for cleanup
  under the
• Superfund program.

http//ecorestoration.montana.edu/mineland/histori
es/superfund/silver_bow/default.htm
2 years
Bioengineered streambank stabilization on 1.3
mile channel created when tailings and underlying
soils contaminated with heavy metals were removed
from this site at Silver Bow Creek, Montana (near
Butte).
31
Environmental Clean-up a possible ally in
Bacteria with an appetite for Toxic
Wasteshttp//www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f
ile/c/a/2003/07/14/MN103893.DTL

• A complex community of microorganisms thrives by
  "breathing" oxides of sulfur, iron, aluminum and
  even more hazardous compounds like the uranium
  and other radioactive elements. As the microbes
  obtain their oxygen from soluble uranium oxide,
  for example, they transform it into a highly
  insoluble form called uraninite.
• Heavy metals such as chromium also pose a human
  health problem. Similar techniques mobilizing
  bacteria to remove chromium, a cancer-causing
  metal, are also being tested by a team from UC
  San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
  led by marine biologist Bradley Tebo.

32
Part III Oil and Gas Extraction
Oil well
Oil sand extraction
33
What is Petroleum?

• A thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of
  gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that
  occurs naturally beneath the earth's surface, can
  be separated into fractions including natural
  gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and
  lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and
  is used as raw material for a wide variety of
  derivative products. http//www.answers.com/topic
  /petroleum

Oil sand
Crude Oil
34

• Oil and natural gas are formed over millions of
  years as deeply buried organic sediments are
  slowly changed into liquid and gaseous
  hydrocarbons by chemical reactions set off by the
  heat of the depths, "Understanding Earth" (W.H.
  Freeman, 2004).

35
Refining Oil

• Refining is the complex
• series of processes that
• manufactures finished
• petroleum products out of
• crude oil which begins as
• simple distillation (by
• heating and separating
• http//www.ocean.udel.edu/oilspill/images/barell.j
  pg

36
Primary Recovery
Most oil reserves have natural gas present that
creates pressure which is used to propel the oil
to the surface through tubing within the steel
casing that runs the depth of the well. This
primary recovery generally requires no additional
compression. http//energy.rolls-royce.com/crude-
oil-extraction/
37
Secondary Recovery
When gas reserves run out, gas is injected into
the oil resevoir.
38
Oil from Oil Sands
In oil sands mining, a mix of oil and sand is
removed from just below the surface using
39
Indiginous People Fight Oil Extraction in their
homelandshttp//rainforests.mongabay.com/0806.htm
The Ecuadorean Oriente, located on the western
edge of the Amazon rainforest, is considered the
most biodiverse place on Earth. Before Texaco
entered in 1967, the region was home to several
indigenous groups including the Huaroni people.
Some of these Huaroni were among the few
remaining indigenous peoples on Earth living
fully in their traditional ways.
40
Texaco dumped more than 20 billion gallons of
toxic drilling by-products into local waterways
and spilled more than 17 million gallons of
crude and clearing for access roads,
exploration, and production activities have
damaged the surrounding rainforest and adversely
affected the lives of local people. As of the
mid-1990s, lands once used for farming lay bare
and hundreds of waste pits remained. http//rainf
orests.mongabay.com/0806.htm
41
ANWR
42
"If we all used clotheslines, we could save 30
million tons of coal a year or shut down 15
nuclear power plants. http//www.ohvec.org/newsl
etters/woc_2004_10/article_17.html