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Environmental impacts of coal

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This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of CoalSwarm and the Center for Media and Democracy.

There are numerous damaging environmental impacts of coal, from both coal-fired power plants and coal mining. These include significant emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, which are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. Coal burning and mining also cause several other kinds of air and water pollution, creating serious health and environmental risks.

Contents

Global warming

Coal-fired power plants are responsible for one-third of America’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions—about the same amount as all transportation sources -- cars, SUVs, trucks, buses, planes, ships, and trains -- combined.[1]

A 1000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant produces approximately the same amount of global warming as 1.2 million cars.[2]

Coal-to-liquids technology will have particularly intensive climate effects. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, using liquefied coal as a fuel source would produce 119 percent greater greenhouse gas emissions than using petroleum-based fuel.[3]

For 1999, the U.S. Energy Information Agency estimated that coal plants produced 2.095 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour. This represented a 4% improvement from the 2.117 pounds per kilowatt hour in 1998.[4]

NASA scientist James Hansen, who reported to the U.S. Congress that climate change was underway in 1988, has been particularly critical of the coal industry, stating that coal contributes the largest percentage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.[5] He acknowledges that a molecule of carbon dioxide emitted from burning coal has the same effect as a molecule emitted from burning oil, but that the difference is where the fuel originally resides. He says that most oil comes from Russia and Saudi Arabia, and that no matter how fuel-efficient automobiles become, the oil will eventually be burned and the carbon dioxide emitted. In a 2007 testimony before the Iowa Utilities Board, he stated that the United States has a large reservoir of coal, which makes it a resource that can be controlled through action by U.S. politicians, unlike oil which is controlled by other countries.[5] He and other climate scientists have called for coal phase out completely by the year 2030.[6]

Hansen has said that phasing out coal “is 80% of the solution to the global warming crisis.”[7] As pointed out in Ted Nace's Climate Hope, Hansen’s reasons for emphasizing coal were fourfold:

  • The amount of carbon remaining in the ground in oil and gas reserves is much smaller than the amount of carbon contained in coal reserves.[8]
  • "Second, coal is the most carbon intense of the fossil fuels. Producing a kilowatt-hour of electricity from coal produces about 2.4 pounds of carbon dioxide, while producing a kilowatt-hour of electricity from natural gas produces about 1 pound of carbon dioxide. While coal produces half of the electricity used in the United States, it is responsible for 80 percent of the carbon dioxide released by electric utilities."[9]
  • "Third, coal consumption is far more concentrated than the use of other fossil fuels. A mere six hundred large coal-burning power plants account for nearly all coal usage, in contrast to the tens of millions of cars, trucks, planes, homes, businesses, and factories that burn oil and gas. Thus, reducing emissions from coal is a far simpler task."[9]
  • "Fourth, production of oil and gas is primarily located in countries that American domestic energy policy has little or no ability to control. Any reduction in use by the United States might well be consumed by other countries. In contrast, our ability to control the consumption of coal is substantial, since the United States leads the rest of the world in the size of its coal reserves."[9]

Other air pollution from coal-fired power plants

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, in an average year, a typical coal plant (500 megawatts) generates the following amounts of air pollutants:[10]

  • 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), an amount equivalent to chopping down 161 million trees. CO2 pollution is the principal human cause of global warming and climate change.
  • 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which causes acid rain and forms small airborne particles that can cause lung damage, heart disease, and other illnesses.
  • 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx), equivalent to half a million late-model cars. NOx leads to formation of smog, which inflames lung tissue and increases susceptibility to respiratory illness.
  • 500 tons of small airborne particles, which can cause bronchitis, reductions in lung function, increased hospital and emergency room admissions, and premature death.[11]
  • 220 tons of hydrocarbons, which contribute to smog formation.
  • 720 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), which causes headaches and places additional stress on people with heart disease.
  • 170 pounds of mercury. 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury deposited in a 25-acre lake can make the fish unsafe to eat. Mercury also causes learning disabilities, brain damage, and neurological disorders.[12]
  • 225 pounds of arsenic, which leads to cancer in 1 out of 100 people who drink water containing 50 parts per billion.
  • 114 pounds of lead, 4 pounds of cadmium, and other toxic heavy metals. These toxic metals can accumulate in human and animal tissue and cause serious health problems, including mental retardation, developmental disorders, and damage to the nervous system.[13]

Solid waste from coal-fired power plants

According to a New York Times analysis of EPA data, power plants are the nation’s biggest producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic, paint manufacturing, and chemical plants.[14]

Solid waste from a typical 500MW coal plant contains 120,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of sludge from the smokestack scrubber. In the U.S. more than 75 percent of this waste is disposed of in unlined, unmonitored landfills and surface impoundments. Toxic substances in ash and sludge include arsenic, mercury, chromium, and cadmium.[15]

There is no federal regulation for the disposal of fly ash. A 2007 EPA report cited 67 cases in the United States of damage to ground or surface water from coal-combustion products.[16]

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates that in an average year, a typical 1000 MW coal plant releases significant amounts of radioactive material, including 5.2 tons of uranium and 12.8 tons of thorium.[17]

Water Pollution from Coal Plants

The use of bagpipes and scrubbers to trap pollutants and toxins from power plant emissions can end up in the water supply.[14]

As of January 2010, no federal regulations specifically govern the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills. Some regulators have used the Clean Water Act to try and limit pollution, but the law does not mandate limits on many dangerous chemicals in power plant waste, like arsenic and lead.[14]

According to a New York Times analysis of EPA records, 21 power plants in 10 states have dumped arsenic into rivers or other waters at concentrations as much as 18 times the federal drinking water standard. State officials sometimes place no limits on water discharges of arsenic, aluminum, boron, chromium, manganese, nickel or other chemicals that have been linked to health risks. Only one in 43 U.S. power plants must limit how much barium is dumped into nearby waterways, despote being commonly found in power plant waste and scrubber wastewater and linked to heart problems and disease. EPA records indicate power plant landfills and other disposal practices have polluted groundwater in more than a dozen states, while a 2007 EPA report suggested that people living near some power plant landfills faced a cancer risk 2,000 times higher than federal health standards.[14]

Power plants have often violated the Clean Water Act without paying fines or facing other penalties: ninety percent of 313 coal-fired power plants that violated the law since 2004 were not fined or otherwise sanctioned by federal or state regulators. And fines are often modest: Hatfield’s Ferry has violated the Clean Water Act 33 times since 2006, but has paid less than $26,000, even as the plant’s parent company earned $1.1 billion.[14]

According to the New York Times, after five states — including New York and New Jersey — sued Allegheny Energy to install scrubbers at one of its coal plants, the company began dumping tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the scrubbing process into the Monongahela River. The River provides drinking water to 350,000 people and flows into Pittsburgh.[14]

Thermal pollution from coal plants

Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers. When water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature, the change in temperature impacts organisms by (a) decreasing oxygen supply, and (b) affecting ecosystem composition.[18]

When a power plant first opens or shuts down for repair or other causes, fish and other organisms adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by the abrupt rise in water temperature known as 'thermal shock': most aquatic organisms have developed enzyme systems that operate in only narrow ranges of temperature, and can be killed by sudden temperature changes that are beyond the tolerance limits of their metabolic systems.[18]

Coal mining

Coal mining also has a number of adverse effects on the environment:

  • the release of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas estimated to account for 18% of the overall global warming effect triggered by human activities (CO2 is estimated to contribute 50%).[19]
  • the release of carbon monoxide (CO) from explosives, which pollutes the air and poses a health risk for mine workers.[20]
  • dust and coal particles stirred up during the mining process, as well as the soot released during coal transport, which can cause severe and potentially deadly respiratory problems.[20]
  • water pollution, as sulfuric acid forms when coal is exposed to air and water, creating an acid run-off with heavy metals such as copper, lead, and mercury that can leech into streams, acidifying and polluting the water and killing fish, plants, and aquatic animals.[19] Seepage from coal sludge can also infect local water supplies.[20]
  • drastic alteration of the landscape, which can render an area unfit for other purposes, even after coal mine reclamation. The clearing of trees, plants, and topsoil from mining areas destroys forests and natural wildlife habitats. It also promotes soil erosion and flooding, and stirs up dust pollution that can lead to respiratory problems in nearby communities. In mountaintop removal mining, most common in the Appalachian region of the U.S., mountaintops are literally blown off to reach coal seams, with the waste products deposited into valleys below, causing permanent damage to the landscape and the local ecosystem. According to the Sierra Club, this practice has "damaged or destroyed approximately 1,200 miles of streams, disrupted drinking water supplies, flooded communities, eliminated forests, and destroyed wildlife habitat. Coal companies have created at least 6,800 fills to hold their mining wastes, and the government estimates that if this mining continues unabated in Appalachia it will destroy 1.4 million acres of land by 2020."[20]

Resources

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2004,” April 2006.
  2. ↑ Barbara Freese and Steve Clemmer, "Gambling with Coal: How New Climate Laws Will Make Future Coal Plants More Expensive," Union of Concerned Scientists, September 2006, page 2.
  3. ↑ Testimony of Joseph Romm before Congress, September 5, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the Generation of Electric Power in the United States," U.S. Energy Information Agency, July 2000
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "State of Iowa, Before the Iowa Utilities Board: Direct Testimony of James E. Hansen" Columbia, November 5, 2007
  6. ↑ "Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?" Columbia, April 7, 2008
  7. ↑ Letter from James Hansen to Nevada governor Gibbons, April 14, 2008, at www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/
  8. ↑ Historical Fossil Fuel Emissions and Remaining Reserves. Source: Adapted from James Hansen et al., “Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?” Open Atmospheric Science Journal (2008): page 11. Estimates for remaining oil, gas, and coal reserves are from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2001: Mitigation, B. Metz et al., eds. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Ted Nace, Climate Hope, Chapter 1, published 2010
  10. ↑ "Coal Power: Air Pollution," Union of Concerned Scientists, accessed August 2008
  11. ↑ Particulate Pollution, NRDC, accessed April 2008.
  12. ↑ Air Pollution in the Mountains, Appalachian Voices, accessed April 2008.
  13. ↑ Public Benefits of Renewable Energy Use, Union of Concerned Scientists, 1999.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Charles Duhigg,"Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways" New York Times, October 12, 2009
  15. ↑ "Coal Power: Wastes Generated," Union of Concerned Scientists, accessed August 2008
  16. ↑ "Indiana town to Chesapeake: Fly-ash battle won’t be easy," Virginia Pilot, October 17, 2008.
  17. ↑ Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger, ORNL Review Vol. 26, Nos. 3&4, 1993.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Thermal Pollution" Pollution Issues, accessed November 2009
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Environmental Impacts of Coal Mining, World Coal Institute, accessed April 2008.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 "The Dirty Truth about Coal: Mining", Sierra Club, June 2007.

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