Hosted by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin and Senator Lamar Alexander

Tuesday February 9th, 2010
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
406 Dirksen (EPW Hearing Room)

Dr. Margaret A. Palmer: Director, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science 

Dr. Emily S. Bernhardt: Assistant Professor, Duke University

Keith N. Eshleman: Professor, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science 
Michael Hendryx: Director, West Virginia Rural Health Research Center and Associate Professor, West Virginia University
Dr. A. Dennis Lemly: Professor, Wake Forest University
Dr. Orie Loucks: Professor, Miami University 
 
Summary:
Over the past thirty years, there has been a significant increase in mountaintop removal mining to extract coal and other minerals. This briefing will examine the impacts of mountaintop removal mining on water quality and human health in the Appalachia region and how it affects the quality of life for residents living in its coalfields.
 
Science magazine recently published an article on the ecological and human health impacts of mountaintop removal mining and valley fills. The authors argue that peer-reviewed research unequivocally documents that mountaintop removal mining causes irreversible environmental impacts and exposes local residents to a higher risk of serious health problems. The lead author of this article, Dr. Palmer, along with several co-authors, will discuss their findings and be available to answer questions.
 
For more information, please contact Sarah Greenberger (sarah_greenberger@cardin.senate.gov; 4-4524) or Curtis Swager (curtis_swager@alexander.senate.gov; 4-4944).
 

Speaker Biographies:
 
Dr. Margaret A. Palmer
Margaret Palmer is Director of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) in Solomons, MD.  Prior to assuming directorship in 2005, she taught and conducted research for 17 years as a Professor at the University of Maryland in College Park.  Palmer completed her M.S. and Ph.D. in Coastal Oceanography at the University of South Carolina and her B.S. in Biology from Emory University.  Dr. Palmer's research expertise is riverine science, particularly stream and river restoration.  She has more than 100 scientific publications, serves as an editor for the journal Restoration Ecology and published the book The Foundations of Restoration Ecology in 2006.  Dr. Palmer has been honored as an AAAS Fellow, an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow, a Lilly Fellow, a Distinguished Scholar Teacher, and with an Ecological Society of America Distinguished Service Award.
 
Dr. Emily S. Bernhardt

Emily Bernhardt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Duke University in Durham, NC.  Prior to joining the faculty of Duke, Bernhardt coordinated the National River Restoration Science Synthesis which assessed the status of river restoration projects nationally.  Dr. Bernhardt completed her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University and also holds a B.S. degree in biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Bernhardt's research expertise is in watershed biogeochemistry and stream and wetland restoration.  Dr. Bernhardt is the recipient of a Career Award from the National Science Foundation and the H.G. Hynes early career award from the North American Benthological Society. 

 

Dr. Keith N. Eshleman
Keith Eshleman is Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, Maryland.  Dr. Eshleman completed his Ph.D. in Water Resources at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and holds a B.A. degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia and a S.M. degree in Civil Engineering from M.I.T.   He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and dozens of technical reports in his career and is co-author of an undergraduate textbook entitled Elements of Physical Hydrology.   Eshleman's research interests are in the areas of watershed and wetlands hydrology, groundwater/surface water interactions, biogeochemical processes in upland and wetland ecosystems, hydrochemical modeling, and ecosystem responses to disturbance and land use change.  Recent research projects have focused on the hydrological impacts of acid deposition, forest disturbances, and surface mining activities in the Appalachian Mountain region.
 

Michael Hendryx is Director of the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University.  He has also held faculty appointments at Washington State University and the University of Iowa.  He completed his M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Northwestern University and completed his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Nevada. Dr. Hendryx's area of expertise is in the public health impacts of coal mining in Appalachia, in terms of both socioeconomic and environmental risks to health.  He has more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, several book chapters and numerous scientific presentations at national meetings.  Dr. Hendryx has been nominated for the West Virginia University School of Medicine Distinguished Teaching Award, and teaches health policy in the Community Medicine department. 

 

Dr. A. Dennis Lemly
Dennis Lemly is a scientist specializing in the ecotoxicology of selenium, a trace element pollutant associated with coal mining, coal combustion waste, and other sources.  Dr. Lemly completed his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Biology from Wake Forest University, where he is a Research Professor of Biology, and received his B.S. from Western Carolina University.  He has over 30 years of research experience with this environmental contaminant, and has conducted intensive investigations of numerous cases of selenium pollution, including Belews Lake, North Carolina, where 19 species of fish were eliminated, and Kesterson Marsh, California, where thousands of aquatic birds were poisoned.  Dr. Lemly has published 47 research articles on selenium toxicity to fish and wildlife, as well as the reference book Selenium Assessment in Aquatic Ecosystems.  Lemly has consulted on selenium pollution issues ranging from power plant waste in Australia to mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia.  He is Associate Editor of the international research journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.
 
Dr. Orie Loucks
Dr. Orie Loucks began his career with the Department of Forestry in Canada (1955-1962) and joined the Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin in 1962. He served as Director of the Center for Biotic Systems, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, and headed interdisciplinary studies of the impacts of coal-fired electricity generation in Wisconsin. River in central Wisconsin. After joining Miami University in 1989, Dr. Loucks continued studies of air pollution and mining effects on forests in the Ohio Valley. In the mid-1980's Dr. Loucks was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Water Science and Technology, and was U.S. Co-chair of the joint NRC-NAS/Royal Society of Canada study reviewing the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.