The Dangers Of Coal

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

Coal mines are not as harmful as uranium mines at the same time coal mines are not ineffective. Bad coal mining practices can result in ignition of coal fires, which can burn for a long periods as well as releasing fly ash and smoke laden with greenhouse gasses and toxic chemicals. Furthermore coal mining releases methane gas, methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, which increases global worming (Mining impacts,

Ultimately, Dr. Shea found very little actual health risks from the coal ash spill. According to Dan Way, Dr. Shea reported that short-term toxic harm resulted from the spill, and that there were only isolated cases of coal ash contaminating groundwater (2014). However, there was agreement that long-term monitoring was necessary at the Dan River to assess longer term damages.

A controversial topic commonly debated among society is the construction of coal mines. Although they potentially contain great economic promise and access to more resources, they also harm the surrounding environment and increase carbon dioxide emissions.

Coal has been around for 250 million years, but only has been used since the 1800’s first by trains and now for energy all around the world and many other things that people couldn't think of! Coal is a combustible sedimentary organic rock which is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It is formed from vegetation which has been consolidated between two other rock strata and altered by the combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years to form coal seams. There are over 174,000 jobs in the U.S associated with coal and 83,000 of them are mining jobs, Coal miners have found many ways to extract coal from the ground which includes, surface mining, longwall mining, room and pillar mining, and underground mining. “Surface

Coal is the most abundant and important source of primary energy in the world. There are reserves spread throughout some one hundred countries to meet global needs up to the next two hundred and fifty years. It is the most important fossil fuel for electricity generation and industrial purposes. But, it has pollution issues to the environment like Air pollution, land degradation, noise pollution, etc. But the pollution I am going to be talking about is water pollution from the coal mines in the Alabama rivers.

For that reason, I believe coal is dead for good. The biggest clue we have is that the states that rely on coal heavily are now in debt. For many states, they look at the national debt, yet we are in a crisis of our own. This is evident by our recent 300+ million dollar budget cut. Even with plans such as the rainy day funds

"For too long the coal industry has used our atmosphere like a sewer for its airborne pollution," says a website www.GreenPeace.org. Coal when burned releases harmful gases, and humans are being affected by this airborne pollution. In the USA there are more than 40% of people who live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. Many doctors say inhaling these harmful gases could possibly lead to death. Many doctors say that inhaling these gases is like giving your lungs a sunburn. The effects of inhaling these gases have caused premature death, lung damage, and have even been connected to cause heart attacks.

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

1. 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; others

Coal mining is a relevant and current environmental health issue for not only my community or state, but the entire United States as well. Emissions from burning coal, water pollution related to mining coal, and coal ash, a byproduct from coal

Coal mining is a risk people shouldn't take because the people who are mining coal will end up getting lost. Coal mining also has numerous of accidents throughout the years. The reason for coal mining is that people depends on electricity. Also people want to be coal because it is a dangerous job in the United Stated.

With the introduction of mechanical coal cutters, production tripled. Acting like a chain saw, coal cutters sheared, undercut and overcut the seam of coal. Holes were then drilled into the coal and filled with explosives. Once blown down, miners loaded the coal into coal cars. There were several inherent risks with mechanisation. Sparks created explosions, machinery caused gruesome accidents, and the coal dust (or “devil’s dust” as the miners called it) caused black lung

Generally, the “Mining” refers to extraction of materials from earth by artificial methods. As considering to the several decades minerals are the central to our modern base life. They are essential to produce materials for construction and manufacturing i.e. steel and cement cannot be made without cooking coal. Metals are used to make the smart phones, computers and televisions we use every day. The use of diamonds in jewellery remains a near-universal symbol of wealth and prestige. However, mining point to the environmental impacts of extracting and using non-renewable resources like coal, the economic distortion that results from one part of the economy booming while the risks to communities that live near large or multiple mining projects as strong reasons why mining should be curtailed or even stopped. At present Australia is one of leading manufacture in coal, uranium and other minerals. The mining boom has bought investments,

Other occupational hazards include dangerous levels of heat and noise. Armstrong & Menon (1998), also claims that many modern coal mines involve mountaintop removal and strip mining, which result in ecological damage, stress nearby communities, increase the risk of mudslides, and contaminate water sources with waste emissions. After being mined, coal is processed and transported to power stations, factories, and other points of use. Armstrong & Menon (1998), explains that processing results in occupational hazards, including dust exposure, noise, ergonomic hazards, & carcinogen exposure.