Why is burning coal bad for the environment

Despite their climate change commitments, many governments and countries are still backing coal. New coal power stations are being built, and new mines opened which are also destructive. Forests and other landscapes are destroyed, and mining waste pollutes rivers and fields. Millions of people around the world have been working to bring about the end of coal, and Greenpeace supporters have been a vital part of that. Coal use in the UK is plummeting and is being replaced by renewable energy like wind power.

On top of that, the government has committed to removing coal from our power supplies by Some governments are doing the same — even China is closing coal power stations. But many countries are heavily dependent on coal, so coal power stations and mines are still being planned and built.

In Appalachia, nearly 2, miles of streams have already been buried or contaminated, according to a environmental impact statement. The latest report card can be found here. Why We Need to Quit Coal The coal industry has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to deceive the American public into believing that coal is here to stay, and that the country has no other option to power its schools, places of worship, and businesses.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists , an average megawatt coal plant each year emits: 10, tons of sulfur dioxide. Coal and Mining Communities For far too long, coal mining has ripped apart communities. Copy link. Copy Copied. Powered by Social Snap. In the U. Toxic substances in ash and sludge include arsenic , mercury , chromium , and cadmium.

There is no federal regulation for the disposal of fly ash. A EPA report cited 67 cases in the United States of damage to ground or surface water from coal-combustion products. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates that in an average year, a typical MW coal plant releases significant amounts of radioactive material, including 5.

Acid mine drainage AMD refers to the outflow of acidic water from coal or metal mines, often abandoned ones where ore- or coal mining activities have exposed rocks containing the sulphur-bearing mineral pyrite. Pyrite reacts with air and water to form sulphuric acid and dissolved iron, and as water washes through mines, this compound forms a dilute acid, which can wash into nearby rivers and streams.

Streams and rivers with low buffer capacity are not able to neutralize the acid load and consequently become acidic. An estimated 2, miles of streams in the Allegheny and Monongahela River Basins have been degraded by AMD to the point of not being able to support fish communities. The use of bagpipes and scrubbers to trap pollutants and toxins from power plant emissions - such as arsenic, aluminum, boron, chromium, manganese, nickel, or chemicals that have been linked to health risks - can leach into groundwater and waterways, contaminating drinking water supplies.

As of January , 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. 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. EPA records indicate power plant landfills and other disposal practices have polluted groundwater in more than a dozen states, while a EPA report suggested that people living near some power plant landfills faced a cancer risk 2, times higher than federal health standards. Power plants have often violated the Clean Water Act without paying fines or facing other penalties: ninety percent of coal-fired power plants that violated the law since were not fined or otherwise sanctioned by federal or state regulators.

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 , people and flows into Pittsburgh. Power generation has been estimated to be second only to agriculture in being the largest domestic user of water.

Once through this cycle, the steam is cooled and condensed back into water, with some technologies using water to cool the steam, increasing a plant's water usage.

In coal plants, water is also used to clean and process the fuel itself. The U. Geological Survey estimates that thermoelectric plants withdrew billion gallons of water per day in , of which billion gallons was fresh water. Hydrocarbon Gas Liquids. Natural gas. Also in Hydrocarbon gas liquids explained Hydrocarbon gas liquids Where do hydrocarbon gas liquids come from?

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