Clean Coal is it Dirtier Than You Think - 1/17/08

Hobert Pruitt
Beyond Fossil Fuel Columnist

Big Coal is pushing clean coal technology with liquefying and gasifying coal techniques.  They are also promoting the injection of the carbon emissions produced from coal underground.  The West Virginia Division of Energy wants to displace the 1.3 billion gallons of foreign oil the state imports every year with coal by 2030. 

Many environmentalists say "clean coal" makes about as much sense as saying "safe cigarettes".  The coal industry is trying to secure its stake in domestic energy independence through federally coal based economy, but the more people learn about the climate crisis and the devastating effects modern coal mining has had on the land and people, the harder Big Coal will have convincing the public it is an alternative to oil. 

Nationwide there are grand plans for over 100 new coal fired power plants.  The construction of these new plants hinges on being able to convince the public and legislators that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology is feasible.  CCS technology captures the carbon dioxide normally allowed to escape into the atmosphere.  The carbon dioxide is then pumped into the ground. 

According to Australia’s renowned physicist Karl Kruszelnicki, it is not possible.  According to him they will only be able to store 1000th of 1% of their daily output of carbon dioxide.  Not only do we not have the capacity, we don’t have the technology.  The coal industry acknowledges the CCS is 15 years away.  Big Coal is betting on a pipe dream with our ecosystem at stake.   

With a water crisis looming over us, Big Coal will add to this problem with the CCS technology they plan to use.  The U.S. Department of Energy stated the gasification or liquefaction of coal will require an absurd amount of water.  Each plan will require millions of gallons of fresh water a day.

The coal-to-liquid plants will produce a mostly ignored increase in the production of coal sludge, which is the least known and regulated toxic wastes in the U.S.  In the case of Bragg v. Robertson "88", community members sued a coal operator for destroying their land which was destroyed by coal sludge.  The coal sludge contains arsenic, chromium, cadmium and mercury which have been pumped underground for decades in West Virginia.  The sludge was mixing with the water table that many mountain communities drew their drinking water from.   

West Virginia is the second largest coal producing state in the nation.  800 square miles of hardwood forest have been razed and replaced with 4000 valley fills and 675 toxic coal sludge ponds.  The U.S. government estimates by 2012, 2500 square miles of Appalachia will be destroyed. 

Coal is plentiful in the U.S. but is it worth destroying our environment.  An all out effort needs to be made to replace coal with solar, wind and geothermal alternatives, so our kids are not left with the mess to clean up.

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