In the wake of protests and arrests at the Zeb Mountain mine earlier this year, National Coal Corporation breaks its silence to reveal another side of the story.

The privately-leased area on Zeb Mountain is serving as both an active coal mine and an ecological experiment station. Traditionally, getting coal out of a mountain has been systematic devastation, blowing the sides open and filling valleys below with caustic sediment.

After the coal trucks have gone, can a mountain ever be put back again? Bill Johnston, consultant and former environmental director for National Coal Corporation, says yes. Once this environmental reclamation process becomes better known, there will no longer be a stigma associated with coal mining.-Bill Johnston
Environmental Consultant for National Coal Corporation

Coal is mined because we use electricity, he said, adding that 60 percent of TVA's energy is generated from coal. He described what is different about National Coal’s reclamation process – the reshaping and replanting that turns barren, scraped rock into living forest and grassland.

National Coal's mining method depends on where the coal is, according to Johnston. East Tennessee coal seams often lay predictably close and near the surface. The coal layers are extracted either through contour mining from the sides of the mountain or cross-ridge mining from the mountain top.

Johnston said that the company engineers blast so that the “overburden” – the pulverized rock and soil – can be used to stably replace mountain contours. The reclamation loosely compacts the soils, which are blasted to fall over the area previously mined.

Bulldozer-type machines that are about 15 feet high and 10 feet wide deliver any remaining overburden and place the reclaimed soils. More large machinery sprays out gigantic plumes of liquid, “hydroseeding” to stabilize the contoured soils. The aqueous mixture adheres to steep mountainsides from glue that is added to mulch, water, seed, fertilizer, and lime.

On the mountainside, this blue-green coating forms a substrate where vegetation roots the soil. The newer method of loosely compacting soil allows for trees to successfully compete with grasses so both can re-establish, Johnston said.

National Coal is working with the University of Tennessee to record which plants are optimum matches for differing areas of the mountain in the long-term. Some of the tree species being planted and observed at different exposures are red and white oaks, red and sugar maples, and pines.

John Rizza is a student in the UT forestry, wildlife, and fisheries department, whose graduate studies are being funded through a $20,000 grant that National Coal gave the university. As a UT researcher, Rizza said he often interacts with Johnston and other management at National Coal. He said the miners and site crews appear to be skilled at their jobs, that they work hard and are paid well.

“They’re interested in being a company that has some good natural resources and environmental values,” he said. Rizza said that land reclamation techniques are important to know.  “Southern forests are one of the  most diverse ecosystems in the world.” -John Rizza, UT graduate student in forestry, wildlife and fisheries

Part of UT’s research focus is on restoring native plant species, Rizza said. How the findings are applied in other areas will depend on climate and precipitation, as well as the long-term land use plan.

Rizza said forestry is a potential post-mining resource. “We’re trying to restore the land to as good a use, or better,” he said. On the steep terrain of Zeb Mountain, approximately 2100 seedlings of five different tree species have been planted by hand.

A shovel and dibble bar were used to prepare 6 x 6 foot seeding beds along the slopes. Seedlings and soils are monitored, and growing conditions are adjusted from these observations. The testing also shows which plants do better at different exposures and elevations. Though spring rains are best for planting, laws mandate how long mined areas can be left exposed.

Planting approaches consider the time of year. “We don’t want to plant trees in August,” Rizza said.

This year, Rizza plans to publish his master’s thesis about the reclamation research. Rizza may not stay in mining after completing his degree, but will be staying in natural resources. “It’s where I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life - definitely something I’m really passionate about,” he said. “I believe we do need to be a steward of our natural resources,” Rizza said.

Charles W. Kite, senior vice president and general counsel at National Coal Corporation, said that he has no problem with the concept underlying mining industry regulation, but that state and federal guidelines need to become uniform.

The current stop-work order issued to National Coal by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for disruption of two mountain streams is due to an inaccuracy in the GPS coordinates listed on the order, according to Kite. The water cannot be allowed to run just anywhere, he said.

Kite said that National Coal’s founders were committed to being environmentally responsible. Most of the staff are from the area and want to be good citizens, he added. Kite said he drove by the area daily when he was a schoolteacher and football coach in Lake City.

“The top of Zeb Mountain looked like two or three stovepipe hats, cut all around into big cliffs topped with trees. There was a big gap – it looked stupid,” he said, referring to the condition another mining company had left the site in. “It’s starting to look like a mountain again.”

Kite proposed that re-mining an area with modern reclamation procedures is a way to cover up old scars. There weren’t any regulations before 1977, he said. Jennifer Franklin, UT assistant professor of forestry, wildlife and fisheries, is one of the researchers studying land reclamation at National Coal sites. She described her work as part of an environmental effort. Franklin said it would be easier for the company to “just plant a green pasture and throw on some trees,” rather than underwriting experiments toward a sustainable environment.

National Coal contacted UT in 2003, while preparing to mine on Patterson Mountain. That site had been mined decades earlier and replanted using hard-compacted soils, which produced a dense grass cover and no trees, according to Franklin.

Franklin and other UT researchers are experimenting to find seeding that fosters erosion-preventing groundcover, yet is permeable enough for new tree growth. Also, various native herbaceous and tree species are being compared to find which perform best for conditions. The butternut, an endangered tree species, is being planted as part of the research.

Franklin said much of her work at the sites reference a 15-year study conducted by the University of Kentucky. The study is being continued by regulatory agencies and universities in seven states, including UT. Their data is shared data under the auspices of ARRI – the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative.