Comments on: “Clean” coal’s dirtiest secret

By: Scholars and Rogues » The Weekly Carboholic: early deaths cost Appalachia more than coal jobs earn

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:01:34 +0000

[...] And even with all that, the study points out that the cost estimate may in fact be too low. The cost estimates were just the costs of excess mortality and didn’t include health care costs, poverty reduction costs (such as food stamps), lowered property values due to nearby coal mining, or the intrinsic value of the natural resources (such as streams and mountains that could attract tourism or site renewable energy) that are destroyed in modern Appalachian coal mining (ie mountaintop removal). [...]

By: Scholars and Rogues » Seven Simple Steps to Save Appalachia

Scholars and Rogues » Seven Simple Steps to Save Appalachia — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:46:39 +0000

[...] “Clean” coal’s dirtiest secret [...]

By: Eddisionklein

Eddisionklein — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:33:17 +0000

The coal industry has been using mountaintop removal, a radical form of strip-mining, since the 1970s. By clear-cutting the forest and blasting away the rock beneath, mining companies are able to recover shallow seams of coal and expend far less on labor than conventional mining methods involve.

By: silentgrayfellow

silentgrayfellow — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:04:52 +0000

“Sad to say but money trumps.”

True. I’m not hearing much discussion here about how banning these mining practices will impact the cost of energy, particularly electricity. If you want more eco-friendly mining (and other resource gathering) practices, be prepared to pay for it. Oh yeah, also be prepared to subsidize the underachieving “less fortunate ™”.

By: JoeP

JoeP — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:20:10 +0000

You mentioned civil disobedience, which is easy in this case…let’s not accept the benefit from doing this…let’s not use the electricity generated from the process we don’t like.

By: Wendy Redal

Wendy Redal — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:27:04 +0000

Actually, John, mountaintop removal mining has been going on in Appalachia since the 1970s, including during the Clinton Administration, and under the current Democratic governors of West Virginia and Virginia. I’m not sure of the party of the governors of TN or KY w/o looking them up, but it’s been a practice that has continued regardless of the party in power. It’s been the coal industry that’s been in power. And if the stream buffer zone change is pushed through before Bush leaves office, that will only enhance the lock the industry has on the region. Unfortunately, any call for burning more coal, even if it’s burned as “clean” coal, will only increase demand for it via these methods. I’m hoping Obama will push ahead with green energy technologies as he’s promising.

By: JohnThomas

JohnThomas — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:47:35 +0000

It just goes to show how terrible these last eight years have been under this criminal Republican administration! We never had clear cutting and mountain top removal happening during the Clinton years and I’m certain Obama will put an end to this “clean coal” travesty once he’s in office and our team is in charge.

By: Jean Coughlin

Jean Coughlin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:49:30 +0000

A citizens’ organization called Coal River Wind has a well-researched strategy to erect wind farms on mountaintops, providing electricity for thousands of homes and, for starters, 200 permanent jobs for the state. Tell WV Gov. Joe Manchin to intervene and stop Massey Coal Company from destroying any more mountains and streams. Let’s get on board to push this solution to dirty coal and dirty mining!

By: Kentucky Brady

Kentucky Brady — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:21:35 +0000

The only way to see the massive scale of destruction that strip-mining causes is to see it first hand. Same as the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, all who saw it said you had to see it to understand the magnitude. No pictures, no video, no Google Earth flyover can accurately depict the enormity. It amazes me that it still goes on, there is no major public outcry. Most local people approve of the practice because without it, the economy in these areas would flop to third world status. The locals know it.

One of my best friends is a blaster on a strip-mine. He drills holes, places dynamite down in them, and sets of the kaboom. Over and over and over again all day everyday he blasts mountain tops away to be pushed down in the valleys. “There’s money in those mountians” he says. Sad to say but money trumps.

By: Savantster

Savantster — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:54:08 +0000

And to think, if we’d not be having 4 and 5 and 6 and more kids per family, we’d not need nearly as much energy as we do.

Overpopulation is driving the large scale destruction of our planet, and I don’t see how we can hope to survive if we don’t fix that underlying problem. But how does one go about encouraging people to not have so many kids?

Seeing those pictures, knowing what kind of hell we’re raining down on our world, the place we need to protect if we’re to get food and water and shelter from her, makes me sick inside.

By: Concerned Scientist

Concerned Scientist — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:38:40 +0000

Have you read the book “Lost Mountain”, by Erik Reece on precisely this subject?
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Mountain-Erik-Reece/dp/1594489084

I certainly would if you have not, lest you recreate the journalist wheel here.

By: Wendy Redal

Wendy Redal — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:10:30 +0000

Lex, I really appreciate your comments (I am aiming hard for rationality and civility in an emotion-fraught sphere when it comes to any subject matter involving religion!). And I might add that I feel likewise about your always deeply thoughtful, well-reasoned responses on S&R, to such a multitude of subjects. Being somewhat new to the blog world, I’m not even sure if there’s etiquette governing this sort of thing, but personally, I would be interested to know more about you — I wonder what iron-extracting region of the country you come from, what your background and current work pursuits are, etc. I always look forward to reading your comments and would enjoy having a bit of context to put with the insightful words. If you are inclined to share more, you may do so privately by using the “contact” link at the top of the home page. Don’t feel obligated.

By: Kelli Hughes

Kelli Hughes — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:30:07 +0000

It upsets me now much gets distroyed just to remove the coal out, I was born and raised in West Virgnia and seeing that picture makes me want to cry, those moutains are apart of that state and to imagine that if it continues that one day we are going to see a flatten and barren state because we are letting people who only thought is about getting more money and not about energy and becomming less dependent of oil. Those mountians I fell in love with the beauty but if this nations lets people who only concern is greed and raping enviroment of everything it can in the name of those big bad oil companies they are against. I am for mining but not if it distroys everything to get it out of the ground.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:51:40 +0000

For further (though more concise) reading, CleanTechnica.com did a piece on "clean" coal.

By: IludiumPhosdex

IludiumPhosdex — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:45:55 +0000

And let's not forget where the minstrels of "Abundant American Coal" being the key to energy self-reliance are also seeing the possibilities of coal-based ersatz gasolines in the good old South African stylee as part of the Grand Delusion....

By: Djerrid

Djerrid — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:16:02 +0000

Most of the focus on coal has been on its use rather than the extraction. Thanks for reminding us that even if power companies are able to sequester 100% of the emissions from burning the coal, getting that coal out of the ground isn’t harmless.

By: Lex

Lex — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:13:17 +0000

While i’ll look forward to the subsequent portions of this series, i foresee myself getting more pissed off with each installment. These issues hit rather close to home, too. I live in a resource extraction area, though here we dig iron rather than coal. And a battle still rages over whether to permit sulfide mining in a nearby (and much used) river basin.

By the way, Wendy, i wanted to commend you for your writing on religion in the Dobson thread, but it got far too hectic for such things. You bring a wonderful style, tone, and approach to the subject that displays rationality and deep understanding while maintaining your faith in a way that i’ve rarely seen.