Blackwater (coal)

Blackwater is a form of pollution produced in coal preparation. In its purification, coal is crushed in a coal preparation plant and then separated and transported as a coal slurry, From the slurry, incombustible materials are removed and the coal can be sized. After the recovery of the coal particles from this slurry, the remaining water is black, contains very fine particles of coal. This blackwater cannot be processed in a water treatment plant.

Disasters

Impoundments for storage of blackwater and other coal-related wastes have a troubled history with often severe environmental consequences.

In February 1972, three dams holding a mixture of coal slurry in Logan County, West Virginia failed in succession: 130,000,000 US gallons (490,000 m³) of toxic water were released in the Buffalo Creek Flood. As discussed in the book The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man, out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 people were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. The flood caused 50 million dollars in damages. Despite evidence of negligence, the Pittston Coal Company, which owned the compromised dam, called the event an "Act of God." In 2002, a 900-foot (270 m) high, 2,000-foot (610 m) long valley fill in Lyburn, West Virginia failed and slid into a sediment pond at the toe of the fill, generating a large wave of water and sediment that destroyed several cars and houses.

Blackwater

Blackwater or Black Water may refer to:

Companies

Ecology and technology

Place names

Australia

Canada

Republic of Ireland

Blackwater river

A blackwater river is a type of a river with a deep, slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling tea or black coffee. Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States. The term is used in fluvial studies, geology, geography, ecology, and biology. Not all dark rivers are blackwater in that technical sense. Some rivers in temperate regions, which drain or flow through areas of dark black loam, are simply black due to the color of the soil; these rivers are black mud rivers. There are also black mud estuaries.

Blackwater rivers are lower in nutrients than whitewater rivers and have ionic concentrations higher than rainwater. The unique conditions lead to flora and fauna that differ both from whitewater and clearwater rivers. Where the water types combine is attractive to a diverse group of organisms. The classification of Amazonian rivers into black, clear and whitewater was first proposed by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1853.

Blackwater (novelette)

Blackwater is a thriller novelette by Conn Iggulden. It was written as part of the Quick Reads initiative of the 2006 World Book Day.

Blackwater is described as a dark, psychological thriller, signalling a change in genre from an author used to writing historical fiction. On the forum of his website, Conn described the idea behind the book:

I was asked if I wanted to write a novelette of 15-20,000 words, adult themed. That sort of brief is the sort of thing I used to dream about, so I practically bit their hands off, of course. No writer turns down a brief like that, regardless of what else you have on. It'll be £2.99 and I hope to see it stuffed dog-eared into a few back pockets. It is darker in tone and plot than anything else I've done, but to explain how would be to explain all. It's coming out next year - in March, I think. - Conn Iggulden, 26 July 2005

It was also translated into Welsh for the Quick Reads Initiative under the title Dŵr Dwfn.

Plot introduction

"How do you know when you're in too deep? Davey has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, a smiling sociopath who will stop at nothing to protect himself and his family. But when the shadowy figure of Denis Tanter comes into Davey's life, how far will the bond of brotherhood reach?"

Coal

Coal (from the Old English term col, which has meant "mineral of fossilized carbon" since the 13th century) is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.

Throughout history, coal has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the production of electricity and/or heat, and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. A fossil fuel, coal forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over a long period. The United States Energy Information Administration estimates coal reserves at 7011948000000000000♠948×10⁹ short tons (860 Gt). One estimate for resources is 18,000 Gt.

The Devastations

Devastations are an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia. The band was founded in 2002 by the three friends Tom Carlyon, Hugo Cran and Conrad Standish after the end of their former band Luxedo.

The band was signed to Beggars Banquet Records, has released three albums and has toured extensively in Europe, where two of the band members live. Their debut album was named by Rolling Stone Germany as the best debut of 2004.

The band was nominated for an Australian Music Prize for Coal in 2005 and again in 2007 for Yes, U. The album, Yes, U, was also nominated for an Age Newspaper EG Award for Best Album of 2007.

Confirmed to be making an appearance on the upcoming tribute to The Cure on Manimal Vinyl in the Fall 2008. In 2009, the Devastations contributed to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Personnel

Discography

Coal (Kathy Mattea album)

Coal is an album by American country music singer Kathy Mattea, released on April 1, 2008 in the United States on her own label, Captain Potato Records. The album consists of 11 covers of classic coal mining songs by artists such as Merle Travis and Hazel Dickens.

Background

Mattea's decision to make an album about this topic was influenced by the fact that both of her grandfathers were miners, as well as by the Sago Mine disaster in 2006, which, when it occurred, reminded Mattea of the Farmington Mine disaster that had occurred when she was nine years old. She has said that she was expecting a set of stories in the songs she covered on this album, but instead found a connection to her miner ancestors. Her deep interest in this topic was also noted by the album's producer, Marty Stuart, as when they were recording the a cappella song "Black Lung". Stuart said it would be like "trying to repaint the 'Mona Lisa'", in that it requires authentic commitment to the task. Mattea also stated that it was so difficult for her to learn the song that it took her six months to do so. Nevertheless, the first recording of Mattea's version of the song ended up being kept after it made the recording engineer, whose father had died of black lung disease, cry. Stuart reacted by telling Mattea that this was a sign she was performing the song right.