The Environmental Legacy of Coal
Coal as a Source of Energy Continues to Damage the Environment
Mar 30, 2009
From coal mining to coal burning, the environmental legacy of coal has been an ecological disaster for the planet. Coal is no doubt the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. Coal production destroys habitats while the use of coal in electrical generation continues to emit vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Environmental Impacts of the Use of Coal
The use of coal in electricity generation and its transport continues to pollute the atmosphere.
- Figures from Key Energy Facts 2008, produced by the International Energy Agency in 2008 show that 91% of U.S. coal output and over 70% of world produced coal is used in electricity generation.
- Coal and the Environment, by Stephen F. Grebb, published by the American Geological Institute in 2006 claims, “Because coal contains more carbon per unit of energy than other fossil fuels, it will produce more carbon dioxide per unit of electric power production than petroleum or natural gas. Electrical utilities, being the largest consumers of coal, are the largest sources of CO2 emissions from coal”.
- In a written submission to the Iowa Utilities Board on November 5, 2007, Dr. James Hanson, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute stated, “The only practical way to prevent CO2 levels from going far into the dangerous range, with disastrous effects for humanity and other inhabitants of the planet, is to phase out use of coal except at power plants where the CO2 is captured and sequestered”.
- Barbara Freese, in Coal Power in a Warming World, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in October 2008 says, “If CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants continue to rise at rates projected by the U.S. energy information administration, it will be impossible for the United States to achieve the steep economy-wide emissions reductions it needs to have a reasonable chance of avoiding the worst effects of climate change”.
- Coal in a Changing Climate, by Daniel A Lashof, published by the National Resources Defense Council in February 2007 states, “Transporting coal from where it is mined to where it will be burned also produces significant quantities of air pollution and other environmental harms. Diesel-burning trucks, trains, and barges that transport coal release NOx, SOx, PM, VOCs (volatile organic chemicals), CO, and CO2 into the earth’s atmosphere”.
The Legacy of Coal Mining
The environmental legacy of coal is not confined just to its transport and use. Coal mining is one of the most environmentally destructive processes known to man.
- The author of Big Coal, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2007, Jeff Goodell says, “Nearly 150 years and some 13 billion tons of coal later, it's strikingly obvious that the great wealth of natural resources in West Virginia has been anything but a blessing. Rather than bringing riches, it has brought poverty, sickness, environmental devastation and despair”.
- Moving Mountains, by Penny Loeb and published by University Press of Kentucky in 2007 states, “Much of the surface mining - more accurately mountaintop removal - slices off several hundred feet of the mountaintops, uncovering entire seams of coal”.
- The True Cost of Coal, by Dr. Erika Bjureby and published by Greenpeace in December 2008 claims “Mining causes widespread deforestation, soil erosion, water shortages and pollution, smoldering coal fires and the emission of greenhouse gases. Massive excavation operations strip land bare, lower water tables, generate huge waste mountains and blanket surrounding communities with dust particles and debris".
Despite coal being the most abundant and cheapest of the carbon based sources of energy, and despite the coal industry touting the benefits of “clean coal”, the fact that the role of coal in energy production is now confined to electrical generation gives hope that the negative environmental legacy of coal can be curtailed. Alternative sources of energy, such as hydro, nuclear and wind power are ideally suited to generate electricity.
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