Bat out of Hell (and into Your Heart): A Mining Love Story

• In Event: Remediating Remediation: Imagining Alternatives for Assessing and Redressing Environmental Harm - III

Abstract

Based on recent U.S. federal estimates, there are around half a million abandoned mines in the United States. These abandoned mines no longer serve their original purpose as a site of ore or mineral extraction. Additionally, these mines are physical hazards and public health concerns, as chemicals and other compounds may leach out of the exposed land and into the surrounding environment. Reclamation and remediation of these mines, as proposed by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), seeks to return these former sites of extraction into “beneficial use”.

In this paper, I analyze the concept of “beneficial use” by asking for whom and for what purpose remediation serves. I support my analysis via an examination of bat conservation efforts in abandoned mines in the United States, specifically focusing on bat populations located in former coal fields in Appalachia. Many of these human-made mines now serve as homes for bat colonies, providing crucial habitats, especially with the rise of White-Nose Syndrome, a fungal-based disease that has killed millions of bats over the course of a decade. Drawing from this case, I envision a more-than-human approach to remediation through the design of speculative technologies and tools. These technologies and tools serve as probes and provocations to understand interdependencies and entanglements among both humans and nonhumans in the context of remediation of former mines. Using a critical design practice, we (designers and researchers) can redefine the intentions and goals of remediation to embrace the multiple connections and lives that are at stake in the healing of a landscape.

Author

• Jen Liu, Cornell University