The Coal ndustry in the News

One type of mining, called "longwall mining", uses a rotating blade to shear coal away from the underground seam.

The coal industry is touting a plan to transform millions of tons of coal into diesel fuel and other liquid fuels using an expensive, inefficient process that releases large quantities of global warming pollution. Producing liquid coal fuel generates twice as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide as producing ordinary gasoline. Even if the CO2 released by liquid coal plants is captured, the emissions would still be higher than the emissions from today's crude oil system.

In addition to nearly doubling global warming pollution, relying on synthetic liquid coal fuel would increase the harmful effects of coal mining on communities and ecosystems from Appalachia to the Rocky Mountains. Stepping up coal production to generate liquid fuels would mean stepping up strip-mining and mountaintop removal, which can destroy wildife habitats, aquifers and open space. Coal mining also produces hazardous and toxic wastes that can contaminate groundwater.www.nrdc.org/energy/dirtyfuels_coal.asp

Coal generates 54% of our electricity, and is the single biggest air polluter in the U.S.

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c01.html

Coal disaster December 22, 2008

The people of Harriman, Tenn., woke the morning of Dec. 23, 2008, to find their community awash in a billion gallons of toxic coal sludge. The waste -- enough to fill 1,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools -- poured from a storage pond that had collapsed the night before at a coal-fired power plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

http://www.nrdc.org/energy/coal/coalashslideshow.asp

China's Boom Adds to Global Warming Problem

Zhanjiang, China — China's rapid economic growth is producing a surge in emissions of greenhouse gases that threatens international efforts to curb global warming, as Chinese power plants burn ever more coal while car sales soar.

Pollution From Chinese Coal Casts a Global Shadow

HANJING, China — One of China's lesser-known exports is a dangerous brew of soot, toxic chemicals and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/business/worldbusiness/11chinacoal.html?ex=1307678400en=e9ac1f6255a24fd8ei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss&pagewanted=all

Chinese Pollution Is An Increasing Threat

Pollutants From China Are Already Showing Up In The U.S.

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/06/eveningnews/main2892005.shtml