Essay about Negative and Positive Impacts of Coal

1 What is coal? Coal is a substance we consider today a fossil fuel, created from all the dead plants millions of years ago. Coal is formed from prehistoric plants that when they die are not able to release the energy they built up from photosynthesis Typically the plants had fallen into large swamps and bogs, and then over time the dead plants lying on the bottom of the swamps and bogs were slowly covered with other dead plants and sediment build-up. Once buried the plants were subjected to high amounts of pressure and temperatures, which over long periods of time it becomes peat then eventually creates coal. We refer to coal as a “fossil fuel” today because it is created from prehistoric plants and the coal we have today has been millions of years since it was in plant form. Today we coal is still being created we just don’t fully recognize it because how long the process actually takes.

There are many factors that contribute to Idaho’s pollution problem, but mining may be the biggest. Mining is a huge industry in Idaho, hence the nickname “The Gem State”. The biggest product from Idaho’s mines is silver. Silver mines are some of the largest polluters in the state. Bunker Hill, or Silver Valley, as the Coeur d’Alene region is known for its numerous mines, was recently named a Superfund site. A Superfund site is a site under protection for removal of toxic wastes by the EPA. Although that beautiful valley was also once known for its abundant wildlife, now the rivers are flooded with phosphorous, selenium, zinc, lead, silver, cadmium, and arsenic, all from tailings of several mines in the region. Lake Coeur d’Alene now contains over 70 million tons of toxic waste sediments in its bottom. This pollution has endangered people in the area for years. In Smelterville, where a smelter ran for nearly 100 years, a large number of people have been diagnosed with health complications caused by extremely high levels of lead and other toxins in their blood. These conditions, for most, have existed nearly all their lives. Many remember being ill for most of their childhood and on. In 1973, before the smelter was closed, the average lead toxin level per deciliter of blood in children tested was 70. A reading of 10 is considered high alert. Rocky Hill, who grew up in Smelterville and

I would have to say that from the reading that it can be very harmful for the coal mining chemicals to seep into the ground into our drinking water.

Coal ash also contains selenium which is already needed in our body, but excess amounts can lead to impaired vision, paralysis, and even death. The ash contains a lot of lead, exposure to lead can cause numerous issues in your brain affecting your nervous system and can cause brain swelling. Arsenic which is found in the ash can be harmful, if ingested it can lead to nervous system damage and cardiovascular issues. If arsenic that is found in the ash is absorbed through the skin can cause skin cancer. Coal ash contain boron also can cause damage to the intestines and even death. The EPA is responsible for protecting the environment from these types of spills, but in the case of properly disposing the ash the EPA ruled that coal ash was classified as a non-hazardous material leaving it up to the companies to dispose of it as they want

The families that live near the mine also face being diagnosed with dangerous side effects. Since the ground becomes polluted with the chemicals, most homes in the surrounding area don’t have running water because the aquifers are polluted by said chemicals that originate from the mine. And the air becomes toxic also, toxic levels of arsenic, fluorine, mercury, and selenium is emitted by coal fires, entering the air and the food chain of those living nearby. These pollutants affect the water also, making it dangerous to any living life form. It causes deformities and creates birth defects if ingested into the body (Breitenender 2). And to an extent, causes death if the water is drunk regularly. It can go unnoticed also if people don’t check their water. And if a person is unfortunate enough to live near these areas, then he likely has no running water due to the pollution of his local aquifer. People are deprived of a vital source to live and they travel far to get water. And these areas are arid which means water is a necessary

This paper will review past practices and policies relating to mountaintop coal mining, evaluate and analyze current research on the impact of coal mining on human health, and provide recommendations for further research guided by logic and in agreement with biblical truth.

Sadly, many men have lost their jobs and become miners. Mining is a job with a steady income; however, it brings home lung diseases and medical bills. Mining used to be this great thing everybody wanted as a job down in Appalachia. Mining effects are much greater than any other job. “Estimates suggest such accidents kill about 12,000 people a year” (“The Dangers of Mining”). In Inez, Kentucky, with a population of only 750, 6% is jobless. More jobs in the mines are becoming more of a hassle, due to the government worrying about working conditions. Siliceous, Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are all side effects of coal mining and big concerns to higher officials. ("Mining Impacts"). The median household in Appalachia central is 51% lower than national average, and it is lowering by the months. The environment surrounding these counties is either polluted with smoke from the mines or has litter everywhere. Polluted areas causes species to not come back, or to even die off. In a food chain, if one thing disappears, it messes with the whole system. Working in factories and not needing a college education works out great for half the

Things like mining too far into a wall that connects to an older mine, thus increasing the danger of a collapse, is common. Other practices include shoddy dams that contain the slurry, a mixture of water and fine particles of coal, which do not always meet structural regulations that can and have broken and flood nearby communities (Light and Light, 2006). There are other environmental issues that are associated with coal mining. Acid mine drainage is the result of sulfide minerals being exposed to oxygen. This produces sulfuric acid and can dissolve heavy metals from the waste rock, making it bioavailable. Without proper treatment, this will poison the water systems near that mine and will seep into the streams, creeks, and even ground and well water. The water turns orange and is impossible for anything to live off of the water or in it (Kirsch, 2014). Another issue of coal mining is airborne coal dust, which can result in Black Lung disease. This is caused by inhaling too much coal dust and is common in miners, but with surface mining becoming more prevalent, more coal dust is being released into the air and drifting down to the communities. More children and elderly people are having respiratory problems that many believe are because of

Tens of business closed up, which directly affected a large number of households. The coal mining operations companies also left environmental contaminants in the environment. Pollutions from coal mining have a direct effect on water, land air. Some of the pollutants contaminate ground water, surface water and impact on other land-uses. Besides the slope failure and explosion, environmental impact from coal mining causes erosion; leachates production, which seeping into ground water, and dust pollution. Heavy metals compound like lead, cadmium and arsenic dominates coal mining sites (Bhuiyan, Parvez, Islam, & Dampare, 2010). These metals are toxic to plant and animal. Some absorb some of these dissolved metals and introduce them into the food circle. When rainwater mixes with coal waste, the runoffs becomes acidic, which reduce PH of surface waters. (Komitas, 2001) Population inhaling coal dust suffers black lung disease and other complication like lung cancer, and heart failure (Finkelman & Orem, 2002). Coal mining in uranium mines is another source of radioactive exposure. Another environmental impact from coal mined lands includes emission of greenhouse gasses. Future land redevelopment in grand Cache, must deal with this issues before development could take

The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun millions of years ago. When an area is to be mined, topsoil and subsoil are removed from the rock and so is another material, call overburden, to expose the bed of coal. All living plants give solar energy through photosynthesis. When plants die the energy gets out as the plants decay. The whole decaying process gets interrupted which prevents the release of the stored solar energy, then the energy stays locked in the coal. The plant material gets subjected to high temperatures and pressures which causes physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it into peat and then into coal. The formation of peat is the first step in the geological formation of fossil fuels such as coal. Peat plants is not only the first step for formation but they also capture CO2 itself. There are many effect to the environment when it comes to coal; an example is AMD which stands for Acid mine drainage; it includes the outflow of acidic water from coal mines or metal mines. Mines exposed rocks containing pyrite which reacts to water and air to form acid and dissolved iron and can easily wash into rivers and streams. Coal is a huge impact when it comes to hurting our

Is coal power the best option for Australia, as current ‘green’ energy options are unable to support our power needs now and into the future.

With that being said here are some environmental impacts of coal you may not know about. The air pollutants cause acid rain, smog ,respiratory illnesses, cancers and toxins in the environment. Coal miners can get respiratory illnesses from the coal dust while mining. If an abandoned coal mine catches fire it puts tons of mercury into the atmosphere, this happens every year and is responsible for three percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally. The second largest contributor to

Lung disease and accidents have always led to high rates of death or disability amongst miners. The lung diseases that affect miners are called pneumoconiosis or black lung. Coal worker’s pneumoconiosis can be defined as the accumulation of coal dust in the lungs and the tissue’s. “Inhaled coal dust enters the terminal bronchioles, and the carbon pigment is engulfed by alveolar and interstitial macrophages. Phagocytes coal particles are transported by macrophages up the mucociliary elevator and are expelled in the mucus or through the lymphatic system” (Pneumoconiosis in China).

Coal, a mineral I have discussed previously, is necessary to our everyday lives. Coal is an incredible source of energy; it heats our houses and buildings, and also fuels stoves. You may often wonder where this extremely useful mineral comes from. Coal does not just appear; it needs to be mined through a process which results in our being able to utilize it. Coal mining is fairly inexpensive, is carried out on a large scale and can be mined in either underground or surface mines.

These left over tailings create human and ecological health problems that can be caused from exposure to the dust that are blown from these mine sites since metal toxicants can persist in tailing particles (arizona.edu, 2008).