I had no idea they’re legally required to reclaim/replenish the land when they finish up mining. I figured most mines just close up and leave the land barren
Only coal miners are required to perform stringent reclamation. Any other industry or individual can go out and turn an area into a environmental and ecological war zone without regulatory consequence.
That most "eco" people think all miners just make a giant hole and pollute everything in a 100 mile radius and destroy the ecosystem then move on. There's so much more to the entire process with reclamation and safety and eco during the mining process
You should show people how they mine for battery metals for their "environmentally friendly" EV's. They really should be called blood metals for the same reason they call blood/conflict diamonds.
And you want war for polluting other countries? The West is being subdued due to thus destructive thinking. You cannot destroy the environment, no country "owns" it.
I've toured a coal mine in Colorado and found it truly interesting. I love that old mines are being reclaimed. But of all the advances the industry claims as virtue, how many were done without government regulation. I'm not certain we should be praising the industry for simply obeying the law. I've never been congratulated for not driving while drunk.
Yes based on being forced by the government coal has improved. But there are still many nasty places left. Look at mountain top removal and the water issue they cause and left unresolved. Yes this is a great PR video, not does not show the full picture.
You provide your viewers with an unwavering amount of knowledge and education. Anyone would be dumb not to study these videos and use them to their advantage.
The quality of these videos is high, especially with the coloring work. It's well-produced, but not over-produced. Aaron is direct and well-educated on the subjects and that causes the content to hold viewers' interest very well. All of these come together to give high quality documentary-style "vlogs" that are reliable and (literally) down-to-earth, since Aaron has no facade unlike what you see in actors and presenters that usually do documentaries of these kinds of things. (such as Modern Marvels on Discovery).
Dude, check out his website and look at the founding members. This guy is a shill for construction companies. You fell for his facade the moment you thought he was being down to earth lmao.
@@xXPacoXx100 His whole company is centered around making construction companies look interesting and the work being pretty cool, if not meaningful. He better shill for them if he wants to stay in business.
Every item used in human endeavor is created by mining. It came from the Earth and not one bit of the current human civilization could exist without mining or utilizing the Earth in some form or another. Mining, farming, fishing, timber all have the Earth in common. Nothing that the Green movement and their prohibitions against all forms of Earth centered endeavor has any legitimate or realistic end in view. In order for people to exist on this planet, the planet is the source and protection is not the answer, management is.
I work in a deep mines in eastern KENTUCKY, 3rd shift 11pm-9am. Coal is all we have, I’m a 3rd generation miner in the same seam of coal POND CREEK seam my dad and grandfather worker in, in the 70’s and 80’s. We’re upwards of 3 miles underground.
You have obviously not been to west Virginia and seen the absolute trash rehabilitation of mines they took the top off mountains and filled every valley
Thanks Aaron, interesting to learn about the reclamation process. Could you talk about the wider environmental implications of coal mining on climate? I.e. burning coal as a driver of climate change (you mentioned the coal here was being used in power plants)
Maybe you should go and research climate change, and look at the methods used to determine if the climate is changing and by how much and how the CO2 link factors in to the debate. If you think this episode on coal mining was interesting, prepare for your mind to be blown.
First of all, amazing content! I'd love to see more details (if permissable). Like how the pits are planned, the coal is found, site maps, etc... Like in depth interviews with the people who do the planning, that could be it's own video! Then you could do a whole video on the soil movement, what the over all plan is, the trucks and machines moving it out and back in. A video on The coal, what quality is needed before it starts going to the power plants, the different machines used, how much is actually moved, the whole supply line of it. Finally a video showing the land reclamation process, how it's starts, planting, terrain matching, everything you can with actual footage of the work. Maybe a whole video just for the repair shop! I do love your videos but always wish there were more details and descriptions. I love watching the big machines do their thing but often feel like you could've spent a whole video on one machine explaining how it works and why it's the way it is. I honestly think that you could make a lot more videos with the locations you go to and the content you film. But I know it's also a lot more work and setting up more specific filming. Regardless keep up the great work!
Great vid! When you said "without coal, we wouldnt have electricity", I agree. But I would also say "without coal, we wouldnt have steel, silicon computer processor chips, or concrete", just to mention a few necessities. My motto is: Earth First...we'll mine the other planets later!
You dont need coal for any of those things, coal is just the super cheep option there are other ways to do them that dont involve coal or any other fossil fuel for that matter
@@berenlea486 Wow! It seems that i have just found the only person who knows how to produce steel without coke, produce silicon chips without high purity silicon, and replace flyash in concrete mix.
Amazing videos! Only thing I'd love to see would be a tour of some of these power plants where the coal is brought. Try and show people the scrubber systems used, and what they do with the ash. Thanks for all your content and showing how the world lumbers on!
That's my current field as a stationary steam engineer. It's pretty amazing to see what actually goes on inside the large plants that people never hear about. It's unfortunate they won't let you tour a large gigawatt facility but maybe try smaller plants? There are really cool systems going into place from ultra low nox using def injection to high tech scrubbers in the stacks. I work in a lumber mill running the boilers that burn biomass to spin a turbine to produce all of our power and create the heat needed to dry the kilns. Every step is being taken to ensure a clean vibrant future for the Maine woods.
Very very well explained I work in a quarry where we process high calcium limestone and they burn our stone in a power plant to neutralize the acid in the coal
It's not so much the mining of coal that's the problem, except for the damage to local aquifers that can never be repaired, (once the're damaged, the're gone forever) ! it's the burning of that nasty shit ! If they don't mine it, they can't burn it ! I understand everyone's trying to protect their job but, there are too many alternatives these day's to keep mining this crap !
Keep up the good work! To be blue collar to be American means we support ALL energy. We need jobs, honest work, and energy people need to know that those of us who work in the energy sector don’t want to destroy the planet, for god sakes we play in it, live in it and die in it! You live in the city and you don’t want to live in the dark ages? You need dirty jobs to fuel your excess. Keep it up man! They’re tryin to kill my state of Wyoming cause of just plain ignorance.
Coal isn't going anywhere soon, but Wyoming is digging its own grave by relying on coal for most of the state government revenue. They need to embrace some newer, cold weather friendly industries like data centers and industrial marijuana, instead of crying when Washington state doesn't want to export Wyoming coal, or shitting on Bill Gates for wanting to invest billions in Wyoming nuclear
Love the NAACO series and seeing all the mines. My dad has been with NACCO for 30+ years and it has provided an amazing life for me and my brothers! Was blessed to intern at Sabine mine for several years while in college. Many memories from that operation and the amazing people that work there!
Saying the men with the black faces, with picks and carbide lights, with canary cages isn't coal mining is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. Those men and children and yes children as young as 6 opened the doors for ponies and carts. They worked harder than any man in this country. I come from the lands of Western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and a family of Coal Miners. So please dont call a man sitting all day working leavers a coal miner and the others are not.
"... black dust on their faces.." "that's not really coal mining.." ... proceeds to show filthy mining equipment covered in black dusty soot, being operated by miners.. lol
I really wish you could get this out to a much larger audience. I'm in the oil/gas industry and our land reclamation programs are similar on a smaller scale, as you can imagine. (Much less surface disturbance). The general public should be more aware of what the energy industry really does. Best I can do to help you is give you a thumbs up!
There are millions of abandoned wells in North America. Like Hanford, there are a lot of facilities that don't comply with modern regulations that were abandoned decades ago. Cleaning up and Make It Alright meanwhile eliminating the EPA, and deregulating that you can dump anything. Both popular sentiments within Congress.
I was at that mine in the early 80's building the two Bucyrus Erie machines. Worked for a company out of Evansville Indiana. Reagan was president and what good times! Good ol rock n roll hair bands and beautiful Texas women then too!
why talk so much about reclamation and not at all about air quality, the diseases and death it causes or climate change ? I mean you know that burning coal is the dirtiest way we've found to make electicity, putting the land back in place afterwards doesn't change that
I'm certainly not anti-coal/anti-mining, it's a big part of what got this country to where it is today. It is wonderful that they are doing this, but keep in mind the mining industry was dragged kicking and screaming to the version of the industry that we see today. You need to lose your "big girl" references.
Again, great video Aaron. I think you hit the jackpot with dealing with this niche of the Dirt World. Not a lot of people know about the backside of how our world is powered and you bring the information to all of us! Thank you
Let me tell you simple answer for that is people don’t use the protective equipment they’re provided by the company. I’m in this industry i see it everyday. Yesterday another guy he was nearly crushed while lifting the cutting edges by a magnet 🧲. And this was not reported to the management. So don’t blame the companies but we grow up people are a big problem. Don’t expect a safety officer to chase you around to wear a musk or follow the safe procedure of doing a job.
Yeah, they don’t dig into the mountains of West Virginia as much anymore. Instead they just cut the top off the mountain. But that’s hard coal, not the soft lignite you see in Texas. But when they are finished, those mountains look like Texas because they chopped them all down. It’s not a pretty sight.
Great video and I love how you explained everything I got s lot of information from this video now I know more about coal mining than I did before! Great video and I’m looking forward to another watch me work video soon!
Meh.... burning coal has dropped so much heavy metal in the North East united states over the decades. You'd be stupid to eat a fish out of any body of water there..... I'm pretty sure your on someones payroll with this video
@@AaronWitt funny responce, You're no Nick Nailer thats for sure. I'm for cleaner energy, and i'm pro nuclear, It's a better solution, that has only been upgraded by our military under secret since the 70's. Funny how your video production and access to these places is so to notch, with only a little over 40k viewers... again makes me wonder.
Here in Australia, we've a few problems with owners not being on top of their rehab, until quite a bit later in the operation. This is more an issue with older mines, where rehab wasn't taken as seriously as it should have been. Most current mines are pretty on top of their rehab from the moment the dirt starts getting moved. Rehab has to be designed into the mining operation. How well do you guys cope with acid sulphates in overburden? This is something we've only just realized is a problem here in Aus in the last 10 years or so, and has the potential to be a major issue?
@@AaronWitt Yeah, Australian operators basically took the attitude that "Acid sulphates. That's only a problem in hard rock mines!" Then they ran some tests, and got a very rude surprise.... Especially when you consider you need to design spoil piles to last about a thousand years if they are part of final landforms. One more question. Are these guys in pit dumping? Obviously, that's the case with the dragline, but with truck and shovel operations, it normally gets transported to a spoil pile. I ask because, over the last few years, a few operators have been regretting in pit dumping because with the substantial increase in coal price, digging deeper is now really worthwhile. A number of pits in Australia are going to nearly 200m, or deeper, seam thickness dependent Unless your pit has been already filled in (another reason some big operators, e.g. Glencore, don't like draglines.)
@@andreyfomenko2644 It's not just soil chemistry though. You need to have a good understanding of the chemistry of all your overburden, otherwise, you get unpleasant surprises 20 to 30 years later.
Before mining, we drill cores to 10' below the lowest coal seam we mine. Samples are sent for laboratory analysis & if acid forming materials are identified, we know to bury them so no acid seeps will form in the reclamation.
As far as I know, as someone who is absolutely for moving away from fossil fuels. Literally NOBODY thinks of miners as " totally uneducated neanderthals..." We all absolutely understand that the mining industry has advanced massively and that miners are extremely skilled/talented and smart individuals. That isn't the issue, and that's why I don't understand when people use the mining and charging aspect as their reasoning for EVs being so terrible. By doing so, you're the one who is stripping away the successes of the mining industry and the value of the skills of the miners... They're the reason EVs ARE capable of being so much better for the environment than ICE vehicles, even with mining for the materials. Sure. A lot of the current mines where lithium comes from are pretty bad. But not all of them. Tesla, GM, Rivian, Ford, VW of America, as well as a few others all still qualify for the federal EV tax credit BECAUSE the raw materials that are used in their production ALL come from up to date, environmentally friendly, ethical mines similar to the ones in this video. That is one of the requirements. Nobody really says mining is the issue. At least nobody that actually understands mining and just how advanced and clean it actually is. Heck, as far as I understand, most underground mines even use electric powered vehicles to move the materials above ground. Even above ground mines use vehicles that are propelled by electric motors. They're just powered by onboard diesel generators. Mostly because we don't have a viable solution for electricity storage/charging large/quick enough for those large machines that require as little downtime as possible. The only way to advance an industry is by mass adoption. Up to 1000 people die every year from electricity. Cell phones, laptops, TVs, radios, the telephone, refridgeration, washers and dryers, medicine, healthcare, the automobile, planes, trains, boats/ships. Literally EVERYTHING that makes our lives possible today started out just like EVs. Experimental, unproven and imperfect. Buildings burned down and people died left and right from electricity when it was first invented. But we didn't just give up on it. We pushed through and put in the effort to make it better. If we put the same energy into EVs that we put into ED. We could finally become a level 1 civilization... That's not even counting all the other fields that could benefit from advancements in materials sciences and the production and storage of electricity. Mining will always be a part of human life. Burning fossil fuels to create power doesn't HAVE to be a part of our life forever... We are capable of so much better.
I am skeptical of any video produced by NACCO. Emissions reduced by 70%? Who came up with those numbers? Who peer-reviewed them. Which emissions? Some or all? CO2? SO2? What happens to the toxic fly ash residue? Coal is killing us, no matter how pretty a propaganda film you make.
Worked at a long wall mine for 10 years on the surface as a dozer operator. Before cline passed away it was the best place I ever worked after he passed not so much. But I do miss it.
This was a great video and thank you very much for bringing this to a lot of people that have no idea of how much work goes into mining coal and then how much work goes back into the reclaiming which in most cases makes the land more usable and valuable leveled out in places than it wasn't before the mining . 🤗👍💫
Just throwing my own 2 cents in. I'm currently working on constructing a haul road and clearing for a solar farm on a large gold mine in the southern hemisphere. Keeping it abstract in the interests of being neutral. One of the most notable features is that open pit mining has zero effort towards replacing the dirt. Massive pits are all over the mine, and invariably and obviously, you can see a very large mound of dirt not far from each pit. I'm well aware the coal mining method in this video allows much easier replacement and reprofiling of the landscape than open pit mining does and if pits were to be refilled after mining this would be uneconomically viable in most if not all instances.
A picture of the Appalachian Mountain Top mining as a disaster as well as the Alberta tar Sands. What is described here is common in Germany. In Alaska we have two mines in the headwaters of salmon Rivers that are free and have never been harnessed they want to build. The world's last great Salmon Run in Bristol Bay and the headwaters of the susitna River Valley. Both include large tailing dams. Many mining companies file Chapter 11 before moving on to the next dig. Similar to abandoned oil wells of which there are over a million including in the Gulf of Mexico. Seemingly this is one of few properly managed especially financially, they are proud to say they are following the law. If there had been no law, would they have been as conscientious? Texaco follow the local laws when they Abandoned America with the Clean Water Act to drill in Central America where there were no laws and open unlined pits were filled with drilling muds that has polluted entire river valleys because there were no law that they had to follow and they followed it precisely. I don't think those that want to build Pebble mine are planning to do it like this as they dig a mile deep into the top of a extinct volcano, Mountaintop mining. I would like to see the restoration that has occurred in the Appalachian Mountaintop mining situation, the mountain tops pushed down into the valleys, the water toxic. I would like to see the success stories there so that I am more comfortable with Pebble mine and their ability not to ruin the world's last great Salmon Run in Bristol bay. Do you recommend they built the pebble mine to harvest the copper Within, satisfied with the before and after of what they have done in Appalachia?
Curious... at the start...and your channel...seen a few videos... something tells me... it will not be.. very... political opositional... of the place you visit... Lets see... Sorry. I did not expect this...energy in the right direction...not from your videos... but the companies you visit... Yes, it can be 90% scripted... But the fact that they want to talk about the fact...in scripts... its a step in the right direction.... Its very hard to find a net negative in the story of your video.....
In the educational Documentary Dukes of Hazard, they tell the real truth about evil coal mining is. And you know its true, cuz Jessica Simpson shakes her azz.
1970-1980 was know as the environment decade. Presidents Nixon and Carter may not be on anyone’s list of the top ten presidents probably not the top thirty presidents, but environmental progress was made in their administrations. Come to think it maybe not even the top forty presidents.
Yea I wish they would reclaim in pa. All they do is clear cut trees and mine the area and take out whole mountains. Its terrible and they are taking away more and more of our trails and destroying acres and acres of land.
The current regime needs a massive reminder of how important mining - especially coal is to America - if they cared. Those surface coal mines looked nothing like the Congo where humans are mining cobalt by hand. Appreciated.
well all fine and dandy but the coal companies would not do it if there was no law which probably got pushed by the "eco" people alot of the comments complain about... so... good on them for keepiung up with the rules. also interesting is the whataboutism people get going. yes there are way worse industries. dont fight to get mining back to shitty standards. get the other ones to the good standard.
Rehabilitation is better than mother nature did in the first place.You got to move the world 1 load at a time to put it in the right place.We need these resources.pepole just don't understand
PA Mining did a live Q&A stream a couple weeks ago and he talked about some of this. It's quite interesting what people don't realise and what other refuse to say on the subject.
Would love to see a video like this showing off a smaller aggregate operation. My particular one is ran by a large company, but we're their basement essentially. I work production and maintenance on the plant and fill in as needed. We're lucky to go a week without fighting the plant. We crush roughly 2500 tons a day, but the whole crushing operation is ran with 5 people. 1 loader man, 2 haul truck drivers, and 2 at the plant.
Am I the only one that sees that dragline and wants to drive that thing ! well not drive it but operate it ! it looks like a lot of fun 😁👍 yes I already operated equipment so it's not a huge leap for me obviously I already like operating equipment but still that thing looks awesome 😎👍
Love the vids. It'd be helpful for regular joes if you referenced cubic yards when describing machines... this dragline bucket pulls x yards. For the normal dirt monkey the size of these things is astounding. Keep up the good work.
Company I work for installs the electrical equipment, cables, operators chairs and such. We bring the machine to optimum working condition. Been on all the dragline machines in your videos and a lot more. Great videos keep them coming.
You know what would be a good video series is if you went down to Texas to shoot some videos on the oilfield, wether they are spreading the used mud, or building the pads or actually drilling or fracing the well, with your quality of videos that would be amazing to watch
@@AaronWitt thats what sucks but thankfully I’ve been an insider on the downstream of things, my dad used to crack and now we own a trucking company hauling crude oil through out Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and just all over where ever pays the best.
I am an in school for environmental conservation and i think ill show this to my professor because a lot of students here in New York just don't understand anything about mining because were all mainly hydroelectric or wind and solar now.
@@AaronWitt Yea, where i'm from in buffalo most of the area is powered by Niagara Falls and everybody in the area thinks that people who don't use hydroelectric are doing something wrong, when in reality its just not possible in most areas because people just don't have that kind of access. And Niagara Falls it barely powers two cities so i'm and im not sure where people think the other power comes from in the winter when its frozen over ori n other areas in new york further away 🤣 Your videos are really good man keep it up.
From coal country I thank you. I have never been part of the industry but I see and hear about what’s going on up in the mines all the time. Appreciate your content.
i really like this video but my internal warning lights go on when people from controvertial groups can only talk about the positives of their endevours. A video showing all the fantastic restoration work coal mines do with no mention of the carbon released by disturbing all that coal producing energy for all your households that could be powered by means that do less overal damage to the environment.
Society will eventually transition, but you can't debate it's still a critical part of today's energy infrastructure. Until we have reliable baseload power from other means, coal will be needed
@@AaronWitt I absolutely agree we could not live the lives we live today if non-renewables were switched off, however, I think educating people on why non-renewables is bad and creating a society of people thinking about how to creatively adapt to our problems is more beneficial on a whole than persuading people that non-renewables aren’t so bad (once the damage is done) and potentially reinforcing or expanding the mindset that we as a society must live with coal and other non-renewables tldr: I think we need more people fighting against the coal industry (looking at Australia in particular) not fighting for them
My underground Mine would be more than welcome for you to come and give you a tour!!!! Here in Eastern Kentucky!!! I can give you all of the contact information we would LOVE to have you!!!
What's the most misunderstood thing about mining?
Miners
I had no idea they’re legally required to reclaim/replenish the land when they finish up mining. I figured most mines just close up and leave the land barren
Only coal miners are required to perform stringent reclamation. Any other industry or individual can go out and turn an area into a environmental and ecological war zone without regulatory consequence.
That most "eco" people think all miners just make a giant hole and pollute everything in a 100 mile radius and destroy the ecosystem then move on. There's so much more to the entire process with reclamation and safety and eco during the mining process
“The knowledge of the miners”
Oh look electric car fuel. Wait until you find out what it takes to mine material for all those Californian batteries you can’t charge.
You should show people how they mine for battery metals for their "environmentally friendly" EV's. They really should be called blood metals for the same reason they call blood/conflict diamonds.
Exactly 💯
And you want war for polluting other countries? The West is being subdued due to thus destructive thinking. You cannot destroy the environment, no country "owns" it.
I've toured a coal mine in Colorado and found it truly interesting. I love that old mines are being reclaimed. But of all the advances the industry claims as virtue, how many were done without government regulation. I'm not certain we should be praising the industry for simply obeying the law. I've never been congratulated for not driving while drunk.
Yes based on being forced by the government coal has improved. But there are still many nasty places left. Look at mountain top removal and the water issue they cause and left unresolved. Yes this is a great PR video, not does not show the full picture.
Congratulations for not driving drunk 👍
That is not the same. Not being allowed to do something isn't the same as being required to do something.
@@TheAdekrijger Pa-tay-toe pa-tah-toe
You provide your viewers with an unwavering amount of knowledge and education. Anyone would be dumb not to study these videos and use them to their advantage.
thanks Travis I really appreciate that. I'm doing my best
It's easy to reclaim if the area is already flat terrain in the mountains it's a totally different story
Yeah they gloss over mountain top removal mining. There is a mountain before mining, and it aint there after mining.
@@greyfox78569 unless there removing snow caped mountains the environmental damage is minor.
@@greyfox78569 they should replace the coal removed with liberals.
Yep backing haulers around the tops of the highwalls.. spent many nights doing that.
On the other hand a mountainous region may benefit from an area with a flattened landscape.
The quality of these videos is high, especially with the coloring work. It's well-produced, but not over-produced. Aaron is direct and well-educated on the subjects and that causes the content to hold viewers' interest very well. All of these come together to give high quality documentary-style "vlogs" that are reliable and (literally) down-to-earth, since Aaron has no facade unlike what you see in actors and presenters that usually do documentaries of these kinds of things. (such as Modern Marvels on Discovery).
thanks for the kind comment and for watching. We're doing our best to give a real look into this world most people don't know even exists
Dude, check out his website and look at the founding members. This guy is a shill for construction companies. You fell for his facade the moment you thought he was being down to earth lmao.
@@xXPacoXx100 His whole company is centered around making construction companies look interesting and the work being pretty cool, if not meaningful. He better shill for them if he wants to stay in business.
Sorry to say but surface “miners” are not miners. They’re cab lizards, glorified seat covers, and cry babies lol
Not everyone can be as hardcore as you
@@AaronWitt oh trust me I’m not. I worked in a open pit for 10 years, I was one of them. I start underground on Tuesday Lmao
@@Waytogodavid welfare bum
Every item used in human endeavor is created by mining. It came from the Earth and not one bit of the current human civilization could exist without mining or utilizing the Earth in some form or another. Mining, farming, fishing, timber all have the Earth in common. Nothing that the Green movement and their prohibitions against all forms of Earth centered endeavor has any legitimate or realistic end in view. In order for people to exist on this planet, the planet is the source and protection is not the answer, management is.
I work in a deep mines in eastern KENTUCKY, 3rd shift 11pm-9am. Coal is all we have, I’m a 3rd generation miner in the same seam of coal POND CREEK seam my dad and grandfather worker in, in the 70’s and 80’s. We’re upwards of 3 miles underground.
Respect to you, your father, and grandfather! Be safe andrew!
You have obviously not been to west Virginia and seen the absolute trash rehabilitation of mines they took the top off mountains and filled every valley
yes I've seen it and you're right it's very rough
Thanks Aaron, interesting to learn about the reclamation process. Could you talk about the wider environmental implications of coal mining on climate? I.e. burning coal as a driver of climate change (you mentioned the coal here was being used in power plants)
No because the video wouldn’t make sense then
Maybe you should go and research climate change, and look at the methods used to determine if the climate is changing and by how much and how the CO2 link factors in to the debate. If you think this episode on coal mining was interesting, prepare for your mind to be blown.
First of all, amazing content!
I'd love to see more details (if permissable). Like how the pits are planned, the coal is found, site maps, etc... Like in depth interviews with the people who do the planning, that could be it's own video!
Then you could do a whole video on the soil movement, what the over all plan is, the trucks and machines moving it out and back in. A video on The coal, what quality is needed before it starts going to the power plants, the different machines used, how much is actually moved, the whole supply line of it. Finally a video showing the land reclamation process, how it's starts, planting, terrain matching, everything you can with actual footage of the work. Maybe a whole video just for the repair shop!
I do love your videos but always wish there were more details and descriptions. I love watching the big machines do their thing but often feel like you could've spent a whole video on one machine explaining how it works and why it's the way it is.
I honestly think that you could make a lot more videos with the locations you go to and the content you film. But I know it's also a lot more work and setting up more specific filming. Regardless keep up the great work!
Great vid! When you said "without coal, we wouldnt have electricity", I agree. But I would also say "without coal, we wouldnt have steel, silicon computer processor chips, or concrete", just to mention a few necessities. My motto is:
Earth First...we'll mine the other planets later!
Great points
You dont need coal for any of those things, coal is just the super cheep option there are other ways to do them that dont involve coal or any other fossil fuel for that matter
@@berenlea486 Wow! It seems that i have just found the only person who knows how to produce steel without coke, produce silicon chips without high purity silicon, and replace flyash in concrete mix.
@@curtis-thebicentennialist1776 good point I’m a coal miner in Kentucky people just don’t realize what all coal provided for them but what Do I know
Amazing videos! Only thing I'd love to see would be a tour of some of these power plants where the coal is brought. Try and show people the scrubber systems used, and what they do with the ash. Thanks for all your content and showing how the world lumbers on!
haha if only we could get into a power plant... doubtful it'll happen unfortunately. I'd love to show that side of things
That's my current field as a stationary steam engineer. It's pretty amazing to see what actually goes on inside the large plants that people never hear about. It's unfortunate they won't let you tour a large gigawatt facility but maybe try smaller plants? There are really cool systems going into place from ultra low nox using def injection to high tech scrubbers in the stacks. I work in a lumber mill running the boilers that burn biomass to spin a turbine to produce all of our power and create the heat needed to dry the kilns. Every step is being taken to ensure a clean vibrant future for the Maine woods.
@@AaronWitt Come out too Utah, I have some family friends in that industry with the ability to grant you access. DM me.
I install exterior trim made from fly ash
Very very well explained I work in a quarry where we process high calcium limestone and they burn our stone in a power plant to neutralize the acid in the coal
that's awesome. Thanks for watching Paul
Coal is certified organic!
Ain’t that the truth
I love when a video gives me a new appreciation for something I didn’t understand before thank you for that :)
thanks for watching and for keeping an open mind Tyler
It's not so much the mining of coal that's the problem, except for the damage to local aquifers that can never be repaired, (once the're damaged, the're gone forever) ! it's the burning of that nasty shit ! If they don't mine it, they can't burn it ! I understand everyone's trying to protect their job but, there are too many alternatives these day's to keep mining this crap !
but there aren't alternatives which is why it's still mined and produces a vast majority of global power?
Keep up the good work! To be blue collar to be American means we support ALL energy. We need jobs, honest work, and energy people need to know that those of us who work in the energy sector don’t want to destroy the planet, for god sakes we play in it, live in it and die in it! You live in the city and you don’t want to live in the dark ages? You need dirty jobs to fuel your excess. Keep it up man! They’re tryin to kill my state of Wyoming cause of just plain ignorance.
thanks for watching!
Coal isn't going anywhere soon, but Wyoming is digging its own grave by relying on coal for most of the state government revenue. They need to embrace some newer, cold weather friendly industries like data centers and industrial marijuana, instead of crying when Washington state doesn't want to export Wyoming coal, or shitting on Bill Gates for wanting to invest billions in Wyoming nuclear
I think you have a small window to see how Germany mines coal still. Top content again 👍
Love the NAACO series and seeing all the mines. My dad has been with NACCO for 30+ years and it has provided an amazing life for me and my brothers! Was blessed to intern at Sabine mine for several years while in college. Many memories from that operation and the amazing people that work there!
wow that's fantastic to hear
Saying the men with the black faces, with picks and carbide lights, with canary cages isn't coal mining is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. Those men and children and yes children as young as 6 opened the doors for ponies and carts. They worked harder than any man in this country. I come from the lands of Western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and a family of Coal Miners. So please dont call a man sitting all day working leavers a coal miner and the others are not.
I think you misunderstand the point
These guys are dirt movers. If you don't go underground you are not a miner you are a dirt mover
@@djt8518 don’t you understand open pit mining
"... black dust on their faces.." "that's not really coal mining.."
... proceeds to show filthy mining equipment covered in black dusty soot, being operated by miners.. lol
In cabs 🤷🏼♂️
I really wish you could get this out to a much larger audience. I'm in the oil/gas industry and our land reclamation programs are similar on a smaller scale, as you can imagine. (Much less surface disturbance). The general public should be more aware of what the energy industry really does. Best I can do to help you is give you a thumbs up!
You think putting some grass over a coal mine fixes coal problems??
There are millions of abandoned wells in North America.
Like Hanford, there are a lot of facilities that don't comply with modern regulations that were abandoned decades ago. Cleaning up and Make It Alright meanwhile eliminating the EPA, and deregulating that you can dump anything. Both popular sentiments within Congress.
What an amazing video……you need to get this on discovery so the whole world can the amazing work they do
we're doing our best to get there!
I was at that mine in the early 80's building the two Bucyrus Erie machines. Worked for a company out of Evansville Indiana. Reagan was president and what good times! Good ol rock n roll hair bands and beautiful Texas women then too!
why talk so much about reclamation and not at all about air quality, the diseases and death it causes or climate change ?
I mean you know that burning coal is the dirtiest way we've found to make electicity, putting the land back in place afterwards doesn't change that
I'm certainly not anti-coal/anti-mining, it's a big part of what got this country to where it is today. It is wonderful that they are doing this, but keep in mind the mining industry was dragged kicking and screaming to the version of the industry that we see today. You need to lose your "big girl" references.
Buy an EV so you can charge it with coal energy
It's powering your Prius!!! Then the battery is disposed in the same method as atomic waste!
Again, great video Aaron. I think you
hit the jackpot with dealing with this niche of the Dirt World. Not a lot of people know about the backside of how our world is powered and you bring the information to all of us! Thank you
Thank you very much I appreciate your kind words Dan
This was my favorite video yet. Excellently made. Thank you!!
thanks Johnny!
You joke but I always though the floor cleaning machines were so cool in the truck shop.
I absolutely love you channel! Great job explaining COAL!
thanks Don!
I wish the mining companies in Wv would reclaim their mines as well as this company does
First, this channel is great and i just discovered it.
Second, how are coal miners still getting black lung if coal mining isn't what it used to be?
Mostly underground mining, look up "Longwall Mining". All the dust you can stand, and then some.
yep that's all a different type of coal mining. This is surface mining. Thanks for watching!
Let me tell you simple answer for that is people don’t use the protective equipment they’re provided by the company. I’m in this industry i see it everyday. Yesterday another guy he was nearly crushed while lifting the cutting edges by a magnet 🧲. And this was not reported to the management. So don’t blame the companies but we grow up people are a big problem. Don’t expect a safety officer to chase you around to wear a musk or follow the safe procedure of doing a job.
Another great video. Enjoy this type of content
Thanks David!
I’ve learned a lot about Naples Florida thing s I never knew yet I live there!
We burn coal to charge our clean electric vehicles! 🤣
This is a very well done documentary/production, or whatever the term for this is. I love it. Keep it up
thank you for watching!!
Yeah, they don’t dig into the mountains of West Virginia as much anymore. Instead they just cut the top off the mountain. But that’s hard coal, not the soft lignite you see in Texas. But when they are finished, those mountains look like Texas because they chopped them all down. It’s not a pretty sight.
Thank you so much Aaron for publishing this. Excellent content 4 the word to see
thank you very much for watching
Great video and I love how you explained everything I got s lot of information from this video now I know more about coal mining than I did before! Great video and I’m looking forward to another watch me work video soon!
thank you for watching!!
Meh.... burning coal has dropped so much heavy metal in the North East united states over the decades. You'd be stupid to eat a fish out of any body of water there..... I'm pretty sure your on someones payroll with this video
ok assuming this is true, you can't eat fish out of the water but you have power? I'll take power but you may be more of a fish guy
@@AaronWitt funny responce, You're no Nick Nailer thats for sure. I'm for cleaner energy, and i'm pro nuclear, It's a better solution, that has only been upgraded by our military under secret since the 70's. Funny how your video production and access to these places is so to notch, with only a little over 40k viewers... again makes me wonder.
Would love to see ya come to trapper mine in Craig Colorado
that would be a neat one to see
Here in Australia, we've a few problems with owners not being on top of their rehab, until quite a bit later in the operation. This is more an issue with older mines, where rehab wasn't taken as seriously as it should have been.
Most current mines are pretty on top of their rehab from the moment the dirt starts getting moved. Rehab has to be designed into the mining operation.
How well do you guys cope with acid sulphates in overburden? This is something we've only just realized is a problem here in Aus in the last 10 years or so, and has the potential to be a major issue?
not sure. I'll ask about it next time I'm with these folks
@@AaronWitt Yeah, Australian operators basically took the attitude that "Acid sulphates. That's only a problem in hard rock mines!" Then they ran some tests, and got a very rude surprise....
Especially when you consider you need to design spoil piles to last about a thousand years if they are part of final landforms.
One more question. Are these guys in pit dumping? Obviously, that's the case with the dragline, but with truck and shovel operations, it normally gets transported to a spoil pile. I ask because, over the last few years, a few operators have been regretting in pit dumping because with the substantial increase in coal price, digging deeper is now really worthwhile. A number of pits in Australia are going to nearly 200m, or deeper, seam thickness dependent Unless your pit has been already filled in (another reason some big operators, e.g. Glencore, don't like draglines.)
@@richardhaselwood9478 Well, they reference a regulation from 1970', so I wouldn't expect a stringent rules on a modern lookout on a soil chemistry.
@@andreyfomenko2644 It's not just soil chemistry though. You need to have a good understanding of the chemistry of all your overburden, otherwise, you get unpleasant surprises 20 to 30 years later.
Before mining, we drill cores to 10' below the lowest coal seam we mine. Samples are sent for laboratory analysis & if acid forming materials are identified, we know to bury them so no acid seeps will form in the reclamation.
As far as I know, as someone who is absolutely for moving away from fossil fuels. Literally NOBODY thinks of miners as " totally uneducated neanderthals..." We all absolutely understand that the mining industry has advanced massively and that miners are extremely skilled/talented and smart individuals. That isn't the issue, and that's why I don't understand when people use the mining and charging aspect as their reasoning for EVs being so terrible. By doing so, you're the one who is stripping away the successes of the mining industry and the value of the skills of the miners... They're the reason EVs ARE capable of being so much better for the environment than ICE vehicles, even with mining for the materials. Sure. A lot of the current mines where lithium comes from are pretty bad. But not all of them. Tesla, GM, Rivian, Ford, VW of America, as well as a few others all still qualify for the federal EV tax credit BECAUSE the raw materials that are used in their production ALL come from up to date, environmentally friendly, ethical mines similar to the ones in this video. That is one of the requirements. Nobody really says mining is the issue. At least nobody that actually understands mining and just how advanced and clean it actually is. Heck, as far as I understand, most underground mines even use electric powered vehicles to move the materials above ground. Even above ground mines use vehicles that are propelled by electric motors. They're just powered by onboard diesel generators. Mostly because we don't have a viable solution for electricity storage/charging large/quick enough for those large machines that require as little downtime as possible. The only way to advance an industry is by mass adoption. Up to 1000 people die every year from electricity. Cell phones, laptops, TVs, radios, the telephone, refridgeration, washers and dryers, medicine, healthcare, the automobile, planes, trains, boats/ships. Literally EVERYTHING that makes our lives possible today started out just like EVs. Experimental, unproven and imperfect. Buildings burned down and people died left and right from electricity when it was first invented. But we didn't just give up on it. We pushed through and put in the effort to make it better. If we put the same energy into EVs that we put into ED. We could finally become a level 1 civilization... That's not even counting all the other fields that could benefit from advancements in materials sciences and the production and storage of electricity. Mining will always be a part of human life. Burning fossil fuels to create power doesn't HAVE to be a part of our life forever... We are capable of so much better.
I am skeptical of any video produced by NACCO.
Emissions reduced by 70%? Who came up with those numbers? Who peer-reviewed them. Which emissions? Some or all? CO2? SO2? What happens to the toxic fly ash residue?
Coal is killing us, no matter how pretty a propaganda film you make.
Worked at a long wall mine for 10 years on the surface as a dozer operator. Before cline passed away it was the best place I ever worked after he passed not so much. But I do miss it.
really cool Dan. Thanks for watching
Hard to get a grasp on how gigantic them machines really are !!!! Almost prly drive a truck into the bucket of that 6020!!!! 🤩 🤩 🤯
This was a great video and thank you very much for bringing this to a lot of people that have no idea of how much work goes into mining coal and then how much work goes back into the reclaiming which in most cases makes the land more usable and valuable leveled out in places than it wasn't before the mining .
🤗👍💫
thank you for watching!
Mining does an amazing job of reclaiming the land they mine. But you never see that from your environmental wackos.
The Big Muskie's uncle, cousin, little brother? I like these the is always something new I learn watching these.
Nice filming!
Just throwing my own 2 cents in. I'm currently working on constructing a haul road and clearing for a solar farm on a large gold mine in the southern hemisphere. Keeping it abstract in the interests of being neutral. One of the most notable features is that open pit mining has zero effort towards replacing the dirt. Massive pits are all over the mine, and invariably and obviously, you can see a very large mound of dirt not far from each pit. I'm well aware the coal mining method in this video allows much easier replacement and reprofiling of the landscape than open pit mining does and if pits were to be refilled after mining this would be uneconomically viable in most if not all instances.
wow, I just found your channel today, i'm impressed. I absolutely had no idea that mining operations were restored after being mined.
glad you're here!
A picture of the Appalachian Mountain Top mining as a disaster as well as the Alberta tar Sands. What is described here is common in Germany. In Alaska we have two mines in the headwaters of salmon Rivers that are free and have never been harnessed they want to build. The world's last great Salmon Run in Bristol Bay and the headwaters of the susitna River Valley. Both include large tailing dams. Many mining companies file Chapter 11 before moving on to the next dig. Similar to abandoned oil wells of which there are over a million including in the Gulf of Mexico. Seemingly this is one of few properly managed especially financially, they are proud to say they are following the law. If there had been no law, would they have been as conscientious? Texaco follow the local laws when they Abandoned America with the Clean Water Act to drill in Central America where there were no laws and open unlined pits were filled with drilling muds that has polluted entire river valleys because there were no law that they had to follow and they followed it precisely.
I don't think those that want to build Pebble mine are planning to do it like this as they dig a mile deep into the top of a extinct volcano, Mountaintop mining.
I would like to see the restoration that has occurred in the Appalachian Mountaintop mining situation, the mountain tops pushed down into the valleys, the water toxic. I would like to see the success stories there so that I am more comfortable with Pebble mine and their ability not to ruin the world's last great Salmon Run in Bristol bay.
Do you recommend they built the pebble mine to harvest the copper Within, satisfied with the before and after of what they have done in Appalachia?
Curious... at the start...and your channel...seen a few videos... something tells me... it will not be.. very... political opositional... of the place you visit... Lets see...
Sorry.
I did not expect this...energy in the right direction...not from your videos... but the companies you visit...
Yes, it can be 90% scripted...
But the fact that they want to talk about the fact...in scripts... its a step in the right direction....
Its very hard to find a net negative in the story of your video.....
In the educational Documentary Dukes of Hazard, they tell the real truth about evil coal mining is. And you know its true, cuz Jessica Simpson shakes her azz.
1970-1980 was know as the environment decade. Presidents Nixon and Carter may not be on anyone’s list of the top ten presidents probably not the top thirty presidents, but environmental progress was made in their administrations. Come to think it maybe not even the top forty presidents.
Yea I wish they would reclaim in pa. All they do is clear cut trees and mine the area and take out whole mountains. Its terrible and they are taking away more and more of our trails and destroying acres and acres of land.
The current regime needs a massive reminder of how important mining - especially coal is to America - if they cared. Those surface coal mines looked nothing like the Congo where humans are mining cobalt by hand. Appreciated.
well all fine and dandy but the coal companies would not do it if there was no law which probably got pushed by the "eco" people alot of the comments complain about... so... good on them for keepiung up with the rules. also interesting is the whataboutism people get going. yes there are way worse industries. dont fight to get mining back to shitty standards. get the other ones to the good standard.
Rehabilitation is better than mother nature did in the first place.You got to move the world 1 load at a time to put it in the right place.We need these resources.pepole just don't understand
You have really stepped up your TH-cam game recently!
we're doing our best!!! Thanks for watching. Only up from here
So pleased to see the reclamation after coal mining. I'm interested to know what happens when coal runs out?
Kress Manufacturing is still in business....Peoria, IL
Well made video, probably wanna turn your music breaks down a bit in volume as we have to keep adjusting our volume. Cheers.
Thanks Dan
That’s strip mining. Underground minings a whole different kind of bullshit
Well made and informative look forward more like this.
thanks Michael!
I think Aaron is an equipmentphile the way he's talking about that excavator
"Hidden cost" of coal mining?...
Hum?...
The lights stay on?
PA Mining did a live Q&A stream a couple weeks ago and he talked about some of this. It's quite interesting what people don't realise and what other refuse to say on the subject.
I’ll have to look around for that
Would love to see a video like this showing off a smaller aggregate operation. My particular one is ran by a large company, but we're their basement essentially. I work production and maintenance on the plant and fill in as needed. We're lucky to go a week without fighting the plant. We crush roughly 2500 tons a day, but the whole crushing operation is ran with 5 people. 1 loader man, 2 haul truck drivers, and 2 at the plant.
we will see what we can do
Am I the only one that sees that dragline and wants to drive that thing ! well not drive it but operate it ! it looks like a lot of fun 😁👍 yes I already operated equipment so it's not a huge leap for me obviously I already like operating equipment but still that thing looks awesome 😎👍
they're very neat I'd love to operate one too!!
Love the vids. It'd be helpful for regular joes if you referenced cubic yards when describing machines... this dragline bucket pulls x yards. For the normal dirt monkey the size of these things is astounding. Keep up the good work.
Gotcha will do thanks John
Not sure why a 6020B is the best looking excavator?
Company I work for installs the electrical equipment, cables, operators chairs and such. We bring the machine to optimum working condition. Been on all the dragline machines in your videos and a lot more. Great videos keep them coming.
That’s really awesome you get to work around these machines
As a coal mining industry employee you have done justice to the industry
You know what would be a good video series is if you went down to Texas to shoot some videos on the oilfield, wether they are spreading the used mud, or building the pads or actually drilling or fracing the well, with your quality of videos that would be amazing to watch
problem is the oil companies chase us off
@@AaronWitt thats what sucks but thankfully I’ve been an insider on the downstream of things, my dad used to crack and now we own a trucking company hauling crude oil through out Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and just all over where ever pays the best.
He used to frac*
I am an in school for environmental conservation and i think ill show this to my professor because a lot of students here in New York just don't understand anything about mining because were all mainly hydroelectric or wind and solar now.
yeah but funny enough a vast majority of our power is still from coal and gas...
@@AaronWitt Yea, where i'm from in buffalo most of the area is powered by Niagara Falls and everybody in the area thinks that people who don't use hydroelectric are doing something wrong, when in reality its just not possible in most areas because people just don't have that kind of access. And Niagara Falls it barely powers two cities so i'm and im not sure where people think the other power comes from in the winter when its frozen over ori n other areas in new york further away 🤣 Your videos are really good man keep it up.
MINI TUG🥵😈😳💪
Blue Collar Photography & Eric Jumper are unsung heroes of Build WITT
agreed
wake up turn my swag on
This mine at the first of this video is closed due to political reasons. Very sad.
That was absolutely amazing!
thanks for watching!
From coal country I thank you. I have never been part of the industry but I see and hear about what’s going on up in the mines all the time. Appreciate your content.
I’m glad you enjoy it!! Thank you for watchinf
Wish they were diong in this in Africa
They don't do this at the copper mines in Arizona.
this should be taught in school
"that's not really coal mining" - Than what is it?
Really cool stuff I bet you put in a lot of time and effort to make this video flawless
thank you very much for watching!
Coal is the bedrock of modern civilization.
Excellent
Dude your channel is sweet. Keep up the good work. These videos are great quality
Thanks for watching!!
I know this business very well for many years.
Damn. These are some good videos
i really like this video but my internal warning lights go on when people from controvertial groups can only talk about the positives of their endevours. A video showing all the fantastic restoration work coal mines do with no mention of the carbon released by disturbing all that coal producing energy for all your households that could be powered by means that do less overal damage to the environment.
Society will eventually transition, but you can't debate it's still a critical part of today's energy infrastructure. Until we have reliable baseload power from other means, coal will be needed
@@AaronWitt I absolutely agree we could not live the lives we live today if non-renewables were switched off, however, I think educating people on why non-renewables is bad and creating a society of people thinking about how to creatively adapt to our problems is more beneficial on a whole than persuading people that non-renewables aren’t so bad (once the damage is done) and potentially reinforcing or expanding the mindset that we as a society must live with coal and other non-renewables
tldr: I think we need more people fighting against the coal industry (looking at Australia in particular) not fighting for them
My underground Mine would be more than welcome for you to come and give you a tour!!!! Here in Eastern Kentucky!!! I can give you all of the contact information we would LOVE to have you!!!
Great video again
Thank you!