Posted by
Brenda Bee on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 9:18:59 PM
Headline: KING COAL, What It Costs Us
By Jeff Goodell Sunday, August 26, 2007; Page B01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082401206.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
This is an excellent article on the REAL cost of coal to our nation. Of course being a West Virginian I got up close and personal with coal and it’s cost in human lives, pollution of the atmosphere and the raping of the Earth at a very young age. I witnessed communities burying their men year after year, and yet the men still went back down in the holes because there was nothing else for them to do if they wanted to feed their families.
Sometimes if the mine disaster was big enough or sensational enough the story would get national coverage, but only for a few days and then the nation moved on and continued to use and demand more and more of the electricity generated in our power plants. Today more than one half the electricity used in the world is from coal fueled power plants. And of course we Americans use more electricity than the next ten advanced countries put together. We alone burn more than a billion tons of coal each year!
I looked for but could not find data on the number of miners killed each year in mining related accidents, nor could I find data on the numbers of people, miners and their families and others living near coal fueled power plants, who die each year because their lungs have been eaten away by coal mining and burning pollutants. But, “According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a scientific advocacy group, annual emissions from a typical coal plant include 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, the major cause of acid rain; 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide, a major contributor to smog; 500 tons of small particles, which cause lung damage and other respiratory problems; 225 pounds of arsenic; 114 pounds of lead; and many other toxic heavy metals, including 170 pounds of mercury, which can cause birth defects, brain damage and other ailments.” So much for the “clean coal” we are all hearing about.
And there won’t be any cleaner burning of coal after this next Congressional inquiry either because the money Congress will give the mine owners in tax breaks and subsidies will go to researching ways to mine the ever increasing harder to reach reserves now that the surface and strip mining has gotten all that is available without going deeper and deeper into the earth. Strip mining where the earth was stripped away from mountain sides in terraces to get to the coal because it was cheaper than building shafts. We thought this was a disaster for Appalachia, but now whole mountain tops are being stripped (or blown off) destroying the surrounding millions of acres of streams, forest and farm land. Leaving behind an uninhabitable waste land where no plants can grow and no animals can survive. The ash or sludge from a volcanic eruption can in time be rejuvenated and begin to grow plants, but there is no power of man or nature can make plant life stem from rock except eons of wear until the rock becomes soil. Appalachia which has the largest deposits of America’s coal will become this desolate horror if we continue to allow the coal interest to sell us on the idea of “clean coal” as a replacement for oil.
The reason I could not find the data is because King Coal is Big Money and Big Money talks real loud when it comes to collecting and supply correct data. A perfect example is the latest mine disaster in Utah. There will be a lot of noise and finger pointing and Senators screwing up their faces and shouting out the “tough” questions of mine owners, but behind the scenes deals will be made and nothing will be done. Deep underground mines will continue to operate as they have been for the past one hundred years. And the mine owners like Robert Murray co-owner of the Utah mine now in the news and “one of the most prominent coal barons in the United States, well known for his political connections and influence insisting that the collapse was caused by an earthquake, directly contradicting seismologists who say that their instruments clearly show that the seismic activity was the result of the collapse in the mine. It may not surprise you that Murray also believes global warming is a hoax.” Three guesses as to what story receives “official” sanction.
Good article. Read it and weep with me or hide your head in the propaganda put forward by the big money interests and call me a fool. It’s your call and your world as I am nearing the end of my time here. BB