Coal is dirty – this is the title of the anti-coal Web site run by The DeSmog Project, Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace USA. The Web site, coal-is-dirty.com, aims at educating the public about the harms associated with burning coal, the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide.
Unfortunately, coal is dirty. It is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions in the world (Energy Information Administration). Extracting and burning coal generates hundred of millions of waste products including fly ash, bottom ash, flue gas desulfurization sludge (which contains mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals). Sadly, this is only a sample of the byproducts and hazards that result from coal use.
Despite the downsides of coal, innovators have found that some coal combustion products (in particular fly ash) can be reused in concrete, roadbeds, and drywall. Since modern society seems to have a knack for converting natural substances into poisonous chemicals, environmentalist should find this refreshing.
Lamentably, this new innovation might not be as advantageous as its conceivers thought. In a recent CNN article, Lisa Evans, an attorney for EarthJustice was cited as saying that “improperly handled ash can leach arsenic, lead, chromium, selenium and other toxic materials into ground and drinking water.” In light of the potential for disaster, environmentalists are suggesting that it only be used in products that will trap the toxic materials forever (like concrete).
According to a vice president of National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, “Fly ash makes concrete stronger and less porous, as well as generally less expensive.” While this news is mildly satisfying, conservationists want more. Only small portions of coal byproducts actually get recycled; and organizations like Greenpeace think we should stop burning coal altogether.
Why is coal so bad? A quick skim of coal-is-dirty.com’s The Coal Hard Facts should be enough to convince anyone that coal is outrageously harmful to humans and the environment. This user-friendly Web site cites all of its facts with direct links to the scientific reports from which the data was collected.
The following is a staggering statistic and makes the top of coal-is-dirty.com’s list for reasons why coal is not the energy answer.
“The United States burns more than a billion tons of coal each year – that’s 20 pounds of coal for every person in the country, every day.
According to the American Lung Association, 24,000 people a year die prematurely because of pollution from coal-fired power plants. And every year 38,000 heart attacks, 12,000 hospital admissions and an additional 550,000 asthma attacks result from power plant pollution.”
So, it’s safe to say that black (coal) is not the new green. What, then, is our energy answer? Nuclear energy sounds sustainable, but it comes with its own baggage, too. Are the answers waiting for us in the wind or at the edge of a waterfall? I will leave that to the experts.
With every new technology and innovation, there come more questions. For now, I am still waiting. I’m waiting for that one breakthrough that will bring us more answers than questions, the one that will solve the problems of today without creating new ones for tomorrow.
I encourage you to visit coal-is-dirty.com for more information about environmental issues that have sprung from coal usage.
Brent Paxton is a junior international studies and political science double major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
