That data could be used to determine a mine's contribution to flooding. Coal mines, valley fills, and flooding . Denuded surface coal mines invite floods . Stripped of trees, shrubs, and soil, chopped- off mountains lack normal capacity to absorb and use rain water. That fits with common sense.
Valley fills at mountaintop removal mines increase storm runoff.
The study was done as part of the settlement of the Bragg case. Unfortunately, that one mine site near Island Creek was the only mine in the state to have undergone design by computer analysis. The weakness of that water runoff plan was that it was not calibrated with real, experiential data. Horrendous July 2001 floods in southern West Virginia again brought tragedy and massive destruction to thousands of people. Many blamed mountaintop removal and valley fill.