Strip mining: the environmental impact, how it is done, what does it do?

Strip mining is a form of surface mining. The ore is close to the surface but it has one or more layers of rocks and dirt on top and to mine the ore, these layers have to be taken off. Trees and bushes are tore down by bulldozers, all of that stuff and dirt and sand are taken to an area nearby and it is all dumped there. A lot of small holes are drilled through the rocks that are above the coal. Then they put explosives in the holes and blast them to break up the rock, which they take to the dumping area as well. Sometimes the coal or minerals get broken up by the blasting, and the size of the chunks is important because miners don’t usually want it in tiny pieces. They want pieces that are moved with large machines. This mining is all done in strips, when they’re done with one strip they make another one. All the waste and stuff they take off the next strip is put in the last one, this keeps being repeated until the last strip is done.  Strip mining hurts the area around it because all the rock, trees, gravel, and dirt are dumped in areas all around the mine. When it rains the mine dirt gets pushed on top of the top soil and buries it. Sometimes streams get blocked from all the trees and dirt and rivers flood. Water also gets contaminated by the water.  The mine land is obviously ruined as well. There are no plants or trees left, the topsoil was bulldozed under a bunch of rock and dirt. The government told them that they needed to start “fixing” the land after the mining was done, so to fix it they are supposed to make it like it was before.  The mining company has bulldozers flatted the strips until they are all even, they put top soil on and trees and grass are planted.