Such knowledge can be helpful to mining operations since reclamation, although often considered to be the last step in the mining process, must actually be integrated earlier in the mining process if post-mining land uses are to be achieved.
This is due to "fugitive" emissions, which are released during the mining process.
"Violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process," Mr. Blankenship said.
The mining process that underpins the whole technology is a colossal waste of energy, for one thing.
Critics said the mine would destroy four mountain tops and cyanide used in the mining process could leach into water sources.
"As I understand it, the mining process here involves taking sand, filtering it with water and magnetism and then replacing the sand," he said.
Company officials have said they will be considerate of cultural concerns in the mining process, which they hope to begin in 2013.
They resent that their rolling hills are now dotted with gas drills, heavy trucks, bulldozers, new roads, piles of pipes, ditches to accommodate them, and reservoirs freshly dug to hold some of the water pumped out in the mining process.
Construction of the pipeline system begins this year and by next summer residents in the city – some 125 miles north of the polar circle – will be heating their homes with a growing amount of waste heat from the mining process.
The Blue Creek mines, which encompass a vast area between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, are considered "ultra-gassy" by the federal government because of the large amounts of methane released during the mining process.
"The mining process also gives rise to potential environmental and landscape impacts".
