Background: Michael Hendryx is a professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Indiana University Bloomington’s School of Public Health. In 2006, he began a research program focused on public health disparities for people in Appalachia who live in areas close to coal mining, and studying the effect that mountaintop removal had on them. The research shows that people in these areas have an increased risk for many illnesses including cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, birth defects, cancer and more. Hendryx published over 130 peer-reviewed studies on this topic.

You have recently been hired by Fossil Fuel Industries, Inc. as an ethics consultant. The CEO of Fossil Fuel Industries has been concerned about the negative press his company has received over the last several years and wants a young employee to write a short summary paper on the health effects of MTR on local communities. His goal is to hear about what younger professionals think about the process of MTR and whether he should continue pursuing this method for coal extraction.

Based on your knowledge about fossil fuels and the videos you viewed on the topic, write a short, 500-word minimum, white paper describing your views on MTR. Include four environmental and health effects and whether you recommend that his company continue to utilize the process for coal production, and why. You begin your research by watching the following short videos before writing your recommendation paper:

1. Smithsonian channel The Land of Mountaintop Removal (Links to an external site.)

2. National Geographic Coal Mining’s Environmental Impact | From The Ashes (Links to an external site.)

3. TEDMED talk The shocking danger of mountaintop removal – and why it must end (Links to an external site.)