Health and environmental impact of the coal industry
The health and environmental impact of the coal industry includes issues such as
There are severe health effects caused by burning coal.
In addition, the list of historical coal
Land use management
Impact to land and surroundings
Strip mining severely alters the landscape, which reduces the value of the natural environment in the surrounding land.[8] The land surface is dedicated to mining activities until it can be reshaped and reclaimed. If mining is allowed, resident human populations must be resettled off the mine site; economic activities, such as agriculture or hunting and gathering food and medicinal plants are interrupted. What becomes of the land surface after mining is determined by the manner in which the mining is conducted. Usually reclamation of disturbed lands to a land use condition is not equal to the original use. Existing land uses (such as livestock grazing, crop and timber production) are temporarily eliminated in mining areas. High-value, intensive-land-use areas like urban and transportation systems are not usually affected by mining operations. If mineral values are sufficient, these improvements may be removed to an adjacent area.
Strip mining eliminates existing vegetation, destroys the genetic soil profile, displaces or destroys wildlife and habitat, alters current land uses, and to some extent permanently changes the general topography of the area mined.[9] Adverse impacts on geological features of human interest may occur in a coal strip mine. Geomorphic and geophysical features and outstanding scenic resources may be sacrificed by indiscriminate mining. Paleontological, cultural, and other historic values may be endangered due to the disruptive activities of blasting, ripping, and excavating coal. Stripping of overburden eliminates and destroys archeological and historic features, unless they are removed beforehand.[10][11]
The removal of vegetative cover and activities associated with the construction of haul roads, stockpiling of topsoil, displacement of overburden and hauling of soil and coal increase the quantity of dust around mining operations. Dust degrades air quality in the immediate area, has an adverse impact on vegetative life, and constitutes health and safety hazards for mine workers and nearby residents.[10][11]
Surface mining disrupts virtually all aesthetic elements of the landscape. Alteration of land forms often imposes unfamiliar and discontinuous configurations. New linear patterns appear as material is extracted and waste piles are developed. Different colors and textures are exposed as vegetative cover is removed and overburden dumped to the side. Dust, vibration, and diesel exhaust odors are created (affecting sight, sound, and smell). Residents of local communities often find such impacts disturbing or unpleasant. In case of
Removal of soil and rock overburden covering the coal resource may cause burial and loss of topsoil, exposes parent material, and creates large infertile wastelands. Soil disturbance and associated compaction result in conditions conducive to erosion. Soil removal from the area to be surface-mined alters or destroys many natural soil characteristics, and reduces its biodiversity and productivity for agriculture. Soil structure may be disturbed by pulverization or aggregate breakdown.[10]
Mine collapses (or mine subsidences) have the potential to produce major effects above ground, which are especially devastating in developed areas. German underground coal-mining (especially in
In response to negative land effects of coal mining and the abundance of abandoned mines in the US the federal government enacted the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which requires reclamation plans for future coal mining sites. These plans must be approved by federal or state authorities before mining begins.[9]
Water management
Surface mining may impair groundwater in numerous ways: by drainage of usable water from shallow aquifers; lowering of water levels in adjacent areas and changes in flow direction within aquifers; contamination of usable aquifers below mining operations due to infiltration (percolation) of poor-quality
The contamination of both groundwater and nearby streams may be for long periods of time. Deterioration of stream quality results from acid mine drainage, toxic trace elements, high content of dissolved solids in mine drainage water, and increased sediment loads discharged to streams. When coal surfaces are exposed, pyrite comes in contact with water and air and forms sulfuric acid. As water drains from the mine, the acid moves into the waterways; as long as rain falls on the mine tailings the sulfuric-acid production continues, whether the mine is still operating or not.[15] Also waste piles and coal storage piles can yield sediment to streams. Surface waters may be rendered unfit for agriculture, human consumption, bathing, or other household uses.[16]
There are five principal technologies used to control water flow at mine sites: diversion systems, ash ponds (surface impoundments), groundwater pumping systems, subsurface drainage systems, and subsurface barriers.[citation needed]
In the United States, due to few federal and state regulations concerning ash ponds, most power plants do not use geomembranes, leachate collection systems, or other flow controls often found in municipal solid waste landfills.[17] EPA promulgated more stringent requirements for ash ponds and landfills in its first national regulation in 2015.[18] Subsequently, there has been litigation and several amendments or proposed revisions to the regulations. Final regulations are pending as of December 2020.[19]
Water pollution
Coal-fired boilers, using either coal or
Pollutant discharges from ash ponds to surface waters typically include arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium, and cadmium.[23] In the US, discharges to surface waters are regulated by permits in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).[24]
Waste management
The burning of coal leaves substantial quantities of fly ash, which is usually stored in ash ponds (wet storage) or landfills (dry storage). Pollutants such as heavy metals leach into groundwater from unlined ponds or landfills, and can pollute aquifers for decades or centuries.[25] The EPA classified 44 sites in the US as potential hazards to communities. Such a classification means that the waste sites could cause death and significant property damage if an event such as a storm, a terrorist attack or a structural failure caused a spill. EPA estimated that about 300 dry landfills and wet storage ponds are used around the country to store ash from coal-fired power plants. The storage facilities hold the noncombustible ingredients of coal, including the ash captured by equipment designed to reduce air pollution.[26]
In the low-coal-content areas waste forms spoil tip.[citation needed]
Wildlife
Surface mining of coal causes direct and indirect damage to wildlife. The impact on wildlife stems primarily from disturbing, removing and redistributing the land surface. Some impacts are short-term and confined to the mine site however others have far-reaching, long-term effects.
The most direct effect on wildlife is destruction or displacement of species in areas of excavation and spoil piling. Pit and spoil areas are not capable of providing food and cover for most species of wildlife. Mobile wildlife species like game animals, birds, and predators leave these areas. More sedentary animals like invertebrates, reptiles, burrowing rodents, and small mammals may be destroyed. The community of microorganisms and nutrient-cycling processes are upset by movement, storage, and redistribution of soil.
Degradation of aquatic habitats is a major impact by surface mining and may be apparent many miles from a mining site. Sediment contamination of surface water is common with surface mining. Sediment yields may increase a thousand times their former level as a result of strip mining.[27]
The effects of sediment on aquatic wildlife vary with the species and the amount of contamination. High sediment levels can kill fish directly, bury spawning beds, reduce light transmission, alter temperature gradients, fill in pools, spread streamflows over wider, shallower areas, and reduce the production of aquatic organisms used as food by other species. These changes destroy the habitat of valued species and may enhance habitat for less-desirable species. Existing conditions are already marginal for some freshwater fish in the United States, and the sedimentation of their habitat may result in their extinction. The heaviest sediment pollution of drainage normally comes within 5 to 25 years after mining. In some areas, unvegetated spoil piles continue to erode even 50 to 65 years after mining.[9]
The presence of acid-forming materials exposed as a result of surface mining can affect wildlife by eliminating habitat and by causing direct destruction of some species. Lesser concentrations can suppress productivity, growth rate and reproduction of many aquatic species. Acids, dilute concentrations of heavy metals, and high alkalinity can cause severe damage to wildlife in some areas. The duration of acidic-waste pollution can be long; estimates of the time required to leach exposed acidic materials in the Eastern United States range from 800 to 3,000 years.[9]
Air pollution
Air emissions
In northern China, air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, principally coal, is causing people to die on average 5.5 years sooner than they otherwise might.
— Tim Flannery, Atmosphere of Hope, 2015.[28]
According to a report by the
Coal and coal waste products (including
The
During combustion, the reaction between coal and the air produces oxides of carbon, including carbon dioxide (CO2, an important greenhouse gas), oxides of sulfur (mainly sulfur dioxide, SO2), and various oxides of nitrogen (NOx). Because of the hydrogenous and nitrogenous components of coal, hydrides and nitrides of carbon and sulfur are also produced during the combustion of coal in air.[citation needed] These include hydrogen cyanide (HCN), sulfur nitrate (SNO3) and other toxic substances.
SO2 and
The
Fires sometimes occur in coal beds underground. When coal beds are exposed, the fire risk is increased. Weathered coal can also increase ground temperatures if it is left on the surface. Almost all fires in solid coal are ignited by surface fires caused by people or lightning. Spontaneous combustion is caused when coal oxidizes and airflow is insufficient to dissipate heat; this more commonly occurs in stockpiles and waste piles, rarely in bedded coal underground. Where coal fires occur, there is attendant air pollution from emission of smoke and noxious fumes into the atmosphere. Coal seam fires may burn underground for decades, threatening destruction of forests, homes, roadways and other valuable infrastructure. The best-known coal-seam fire may be the one which led to the permanent evacuation of Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States.[39]
Approximately 75 Tg/S per year of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) is released from burning coal. After release, the Sulfur Dioxide is oxidized to gaseous H2SO2 which scatters solar radiation, hence their increase in the atmosphere exerts a cooling effect on climate that masks some of the warming caused by increased greenhouse gases. Release of SO2 also contributes to the widespread acidification of ecosystems.[40]
Mercury emissions
In 2011 U.S. power plants emitted half of the nation's mercury air pollutants.
In New York State winds deposit mercury from the coal-fired power plants of the Midwest, contaminating the waters of the
Annual excess mortality and morbidity
In 2008 the World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations calculated that coal particulates pollution cause approximately one million deaths annually across the world,[29] which is approximately one third of all premature deaths related to all air pollution sources,[50] for example in Istanbul by lung diseases and cancer.[51]
Pollutants emitted by burning coal include fine particulates (
Economic costs
A 2001 EU-funded study known as ExternE, or
High rates of motherboard failures in China and India appear to be due to "sulfurous air pollution produced by coal that’s burned to generate electricity. It corrodes the copper circuitry," according to Intel researchers.[55]
Greenhouse gas emissions
The combustion of coal is the largest contributor to the
Coal mining releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Methane is the naturally occurring product of the decay of organic matter as coal deposits are formed with increasing depths of burial, rising temperatures, and rising pressure over geological time. A portion of the methane produced is absorbed by the coal and later released from the coal seam (and surrounding disturbed strata) during the mining process.
In 2008
Radiation exposure
Coal also contains low levels of
Excluding contained waste and unintentional releases from nuclear plants, coal-plants carry more radioactive wastes into the environment than nuclear plants per unit of produced energy. Plant-emitted radiation carried by coal-derived fly ash delivers 100 times more radiation to the surrounding environment than does the normal operation of a similarly productive nuclear plant.[64] This comparison does not consider the rest of the fuel cycle, i.e., coal and uranium mining and refining and waste disposal. The operation of a 1000-MWe coal-fired power plant results in a nuclear radiation dose of 490 person-rem/year, compared to 136 person-rem/year, for an equivalent nuclear power plant including uranium mining, reactor operation and waste disposal.[65]
Dangers to miners
Historically, coal mining has been a very dangerous activity, and the list of historical coal
In the United States, an average of 23 coal miners per year died in the decade 2007–2016.[6] Recent U.S. coal-mining disasters include the Sago Mine disaster of January 2006. In 2007, a mine accident in Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine killed nine miners, with six entombed.[67] The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia killed 29 miners in April 2010.[68]
However, in lesser developed countries and some developing countries, many miners continue to die annually, either through direct accidents in coal mines or through adverse health consequences from working under poor conditions. China, in particular, has the highest number of coal mining related deaths in the world, with official statistics claiming that 6,027 deaths in 2004.[69] To compare, 28 deaths were reported in the US in the same year.[70] Coal production in China is twice that in the US,[71] while the number of coal miners is around 50 times that of the US, making deaths in coal mines in China 4 times as common per worker (108 times as common per unit output) as in the US.
Build-ups of a hazardous gas are known as damps:[72]
- Black damp: a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogenin a mine can cause suffocation. The anoxic condition results of depletion of oxygen in enclosed spaces, e.g. by corrosion.
- After damp: similar to black damp, after damp consists of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen and forms after a mine explosion.
- asphyxiation.
- hydrogen sulphidegas, stink damp can explode and is also very toxic.
- White damp: air containing carbon monoxide which is toxic, even at low concentrations
Firedamp explosions can trigger the much more dangerous coal dust explosions, which can engulf an entire pit. Most of these risks can be greatly reduced in modern mines, and multiple fatality incidents are now rare in some parts of the developed world. Modern mining in the US results in approximately 30 deaths per year due to mine accidents.[73]
See also
- Coal pollution mitigation
- Coal liquefaction
- Ende Gelände
- Fossil fuel phase-out
- Fossil fuel power station
- Greenhouse gases
- Health effects of atmospheric particulate matter
- Ocean acidification
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External links
- [1] online tool for identifying deaths from particular coal plants.
- EPA fact sheet: Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR)
- Environmental impacts of coal power: air pollution Union of Concerned Scientists
- Air pollution from coal-fired power plants Global Energy Monitor
- Environmental impacts of coal Global Energy Monitor
- Map of Death and Disease from U.S. Power Plants Clean Air Task Force
- Emissions Of Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal-Fired Power Plants American Lung Association