Part 1 of a five-part series: The Health Dangers and Environmental Impacts of Electric Power.
We begin this series looking at Coal-Fired power plants, the largest producer of electric power here in the United States. Currently, coal produces about 52%1 of our electric power. It is also quite possibly the most environmentally devastating and polluting of the electric power sources.  | | Click to Enlarge |
The environmental and health consequences of coal begin with the fact that coal is a fossil fuel, which requires extraction from the earth in order to be used for energy. Coal is extracted from the earth via underground and surface pit mines. Both effect the environment surrounding the mines; notably, both types of mines produce large amounts of waste material. When water runs over piles of this waste material it produces Acid Mine Drainage. “Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is currently the main pollutant of surface water in the mid-Atlantic region… AMD degrades more than 4,500 stream miles in the mid-Atlantic region with the loss of aquatic life, and restricts stream use for recreation, public drinking water and industrial water supplies.”4 Both types of mining techniques cause their own unique devastation. Underground mines tend to collapse causing drastic surface change, devastating entire ecosystems. Surface mines devastate large areas of land, destroying vast ecosystems. A large contibuting factor to this distruction is the deforestation needed for the mines (see our article " Global Devastation of Deforestation"). In addition ecosystems, whether it is a natural habitat for animals, or potential suburbia, surface mining makes land unusable for its normal usage.Unlike some other forms of eclectic power, including alternative energy, coal needs to be transported to a power plant. Often times coal is transported over large distances, even from over seas. Transportation of coal requires converting land to roads and waterways, which without the demand for coal would not have been needed. In addition to converting land for transportation, the transportation of coal requires energy, primarily petroleum. Both the transportation vehicles, and coal contaminate the air. The transportation vehicles, trucks, trains, and boats, produce emissions, and coal dust pollutes the air during transportation.  | | Click to Enlarge | Coal Power Plant
by: Bruno D Rodrigues
© 2006 Bruno & Lígia Rodrigues. June 2006. |
Once the coal reaches its power plant, the coal begins generating electricity, waste, and pollution. To produce electricity coal is burned in a boiler, “When coal is burned, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, …”2 and metals including mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and chromium4 are released into the atmosphere. Common exposure to these pollutants is by direct inhalation, or indirectly such as ingesting contaminated water and food. Absorption of these toxins can also occur through the skin from direct contact with contaminated water and soil. Many of these pollutants that we are exposed to are known to cause respiratory complications, heart problems, cancer, and damage to the nervous system. One of the major pollutants produced by coal-fired power plants is CO2, which effects both the environment and human health. There has been an “exponential increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution”4, with coal-fired power plants producing “almost 1/3 of the CO2 released in the U.S. annually”4. CO2 has been linked to climate change, trapping heat into the atmosphere causing the “greenhouse effect”. As well as contributing to the greenhouse effect, CO2 “interferes with blood's ability to carry oxygen to the body's tissues and results in numerous adverse health effects”3. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) is another pollutant whose effects can be seen in both the environment and in health. High levels of SO2 “affect breathing and may aggravate existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease”3. On the environmental side, “Sulfur dioxide is also a primary contributor to acid rain, which causes acidification of lakes and streams…”3. It also contributes to visibility impairment, which is noticeable in national parks, like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  | | Click to Enlarge |
Some of the metals released from coal during the burning process, including mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and chromium4, have devastating health effects on humans. Mercury is highly toxic to humans and “exposure can permanently damage the brain, kidneys, and fetuses.”3 Mercury is a toxin that “accumulates and concentrates in the food chain leading to human and wildlife exposure…”4 Mercury contamination has lead to fish consumption advisories around the country. (Visit http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm to get current information on which fish are high in contaminants). The other metals we are at risk of exposure to do to coal-fired power plants, including arsenic, chromium, and probably cadmium, are known human carcinogens.
 | Coal Waste Dump
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The dangers do not end once the coal has been burned; over 100 million tons of waste materials are produced by coal and oil combustion each year. Coal Combustion Waste (CCW) “contains concentrated levels of numerous contaminants, particularly metals like arsenic, mercury, lead, chromium and cadmium, and radioactive elements found naturally in coal.”4 Approximately 1/4 of waste is used in cement, wallboard, and fill, putting these metals and radioactive materials into our everyday lives. The remaining 76 million tons of waste are disposed of in landfills and abandoned mines, and liquid waste in surface compounds. One study shows that “about 40 percent of the coal waste landfills and 80 percent of the coal waste surface impoundments do not have liners”4 and remain uncovered. The contaminants from CCW enter into our environment through dust, leaching, and discharges into our surface waters. Many impounds are not designed to prevent leaching, in some cases the impoundments are actually designed to allow liquids to percolate into groundwater. This allows contaminates, including heavy metals, to leach into water systems contaminating drinking water, soil, and entering into our food supply. The “EPA found that if adults and children drink, over a period of years, an average amount of water contaminated with combustion waste, they have a higher risk of cancer”4.Coal-Fired Power is contaminating our families,  communities, and environment. Options like nuclear power, natural gas, petroleum, and alternative energy are all options being explored and put into use. We will be looking at these other power sources in the upcoming parts of this series.
Next Month: Nuclear Energy. |  | |
