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The University has signed contracts to purchase 132,000 tons of coal obtained through surface mining, a method that University officials said in May they would avoid.

An Energy Task Force recommended in May that the University try to stop buying coal obtained through surface mining.

But contracts for the three-year supply of coal purchased by the University with dates in June, July and August indicate the coal is a product of contour mining, a type of surface mining.

Surface mining, which also includes mountaintop removal, is mining that results in the destruction of the mined area’s surface.

This is harmful to the surrounding population, and there is little difference between contour mining and mountaintop removal said Stewart Boss, president of UNC’s Sierra Student Coalition.

“Mountaintop removal mining is a more complete destruction, but both result in a mountain being blown up,” Boss said.

Raymond Dubose, director of energy services, said UNC did not give deep-mining companies any contracts because they tested coal from three deep mines and it didn’t meet the specific requirements needed by the cogeneration plant.

The Sierra Student Coalition released a petition Friday demanding the University stop purchasing coal from companies that use surface mining.

Boss said mountaintop removal and contour mining result in similar harm to the environment.

“What they are doing is playing semantics,” he said of administrators. “That is a major problem that we are facing.

“If you look at pictures, they are the same,” he added. “It’s just a neat, little loophole.”

But Cindy Shea, director of the Sustainability Office, said the disrupted surface can be replaced after contour mining, which is not the case for mountaintop removal.

Boss said using the method of deep mining, which extracts coal without disrupting the surface, would be less harmful to the environment.

“It is not a perfect solution, but it is a significantly better one,” he said, adding that deep mining is probably more expensive than contour mining.

Dubose said it was important to recognize that the University doesn’t support mountaintop removal.

“We don’t use mountaintop mining to get our coal, we use contour mining,” he said.

Dubose said he didn’t know the specific differences between the two types of mining.

He added that the three companies that have been hired this year do not use overburdening as a way to get rid of debris.

Overburdening is a technique in which the material on top of the coal that needs to be removed is used to fill the valley below after the mountain is mined.

Boss said when coal is removed from a surface mine, many damaging chemicals are released into the air and water. The chemicals released may include mercury, arsenic and lead.

The University committed to stop buying coal from mountaintop removal mines Sept. 23.

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Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.

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