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Big Coal, The Dirty Secret behind
America’s Energy Future by Jeff Goodell 2006. Houghton Mifflin. 324p.
Big Coal digs into our coal culture:
how it is mined, transported, burned and the consequences for landscape,
pollution and global warming. The scale of these processes is enormous.
The US is blessed or cursed with a large
reserve of coal. Possibly unconsciously we consider it a reserve of fuel for a
time of future shortages of petroleum and natural gas. The basics of coal appear
in the following table.
|
Kinds of Coal
|
Lignite |
sub-bituminous |
Bituminous (soft coal) |
Anthracite (hard coal) |
|
Locations in US |
MS, WY |
WY |
IL, WV, OH |
PA |
|
Characteristics |
Closest to peat; looks like black soil;
contains bark & wood fragments; 60% carbon. |
Heat & pressure transform lignite into
this; lower heat value; More heat & pressure makes bituminous coal. |
Hard, flinty, black; 85% carbon. |
Glassy, iridescent; burns with clean,
blue flame; almost pure carbon; clean burning. |
|
Mining |
|
Source of 40% of US coal; 60ft or more
thick seams of coal |
|
Little mined due to high expense. |
|
Contaminants |
|
Low in Sulfur |
Some high in Sulfur |
High in mercury |
In mining, several trends have
emerged. First easy to reach coal in the US has been mined. Many remaining
reserves are inaccessible, beneath communities, or too expensive to reach.
Miners have been replaced in large part by giant machinery. Mountain top removal
coal mining in West Virginia dumps mountain tops into valleys and streams. It
developed as the “economic” way to extract deep coal. The destruction of the
landscape is not calculated into the cost.
Transport adds to the energy cost of coal. Long trains move coal from Wyoming
thousands of miles across country to power plants seven days a week. Typically
western coal trains stretch more than a mile long each carrying more than 10
thousand tons of coal. From 1970 to 2000 our use of coal for power generation
tripled. Because Wyoming coal contains less carbon and energy, more must be
burned to fuel the power plants.
The dirty secret in the title refers to the fact that coal contains an array of
hazardous chemicals. When coal is burned these are either released in gases into
the air or remain in solid waste known as coal ash. Gases include carbon
dioxide, nitrogen oxides and heavy metals: mercury, lead, chromium, arsenic. The
coal ash also contains large amounts of these heavy metals. Held in impoundment
ponds, such as the Tennessee one that recently failed releasing tons of wastes,
these can contaminate ground water and put human health at risk. On Feb 25,
2010, the Institute of Southern Studies web site Facing South reported that 31
coal ash dumps in 14 states have leaked and contaminated water with heavy
metals. You might investigate where your local coal fired power plant stores
it’s coal ash.
Another pollutant from burning coal is small particle pollution, tiny bits of
soot, acid droplets and metals. Higher levels of these particles are correlated
in humans with higher levels of heart damage, lung damage and possibly brain
effects.
Because big money wields big power, large coal companies, such as Peabody Coal,
and large utility companies, such as the Southern Company, exert enormous power
both in government and in regulatory agencies.
Jeff adds at the end of the book both an epilogue and an afterword. He believes
that “huge and seemingly intractable problems can be solved in the most
unexpected and unlikely ways.” He argues that burning coal is a moral question.
He offers optimism for the future due to our opportunities.
Written 30 March 2010.
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