Blasting: Another environmental woe

The much increased use of explosives to move and extract rock masses in construction and mining over the past two decades has resulted in a plethora of complaints from the general public in areas of close proximity to public facilities, communication, and transportation systems. Air blasts and ground vibrations caused by explosive detonation can have desultory and damaging effects to public and private property, impose adverse effects on underground mining operations, and change the course of flow or effect the availability of surface and groundwater.Attempts to prevent damage and alleviate problems from blasting have been initiated by the federal and state governments by the promulgation of rules and regulations to prevent against vagrant and negligent blasting procedures. The Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) provided regulations in the Federal Register on March 8, 1983, with particular reference to surface mining practices. Most of the states have adopted the OSMRE guidelines to enforce these rules and regulations.This article refers to surface mine blasting within the State of Alabama and describes some of the research efforts conducted by The University of Alabama, Department of Mineral Engineering, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, over the past several years. The article does not provide answers to the environmental problems caused by blasting but describes research activities in the past and present time frames. Although restricted to Alabama, the problem is worldwide.