The Coal Truth
People, Water, Energy and Appalachia

By Cindy Rank, West Virginia Headwaters Waterkeeper
Contributors: Beverly Braverman, Tracy Carluccio, Scott Edwards, Vivian Stockman, Terri Taylor, John Wathen and David Whiteside.

The alarm clock rings even before the sun crests the horizon. You rub your eyes, flip on the lights, maybe start the coffee pot or turn on the radio or TV, power up the computer… Your day begins with a surge of energy consumption that will typically last through the day, only to subside somewhat when the television set is finally switched off in the evening, lights are dimmed and the house settles down for the night.

But just where is all this electricity coming from?

And is it really just as easy as the flip of a switch?

Dirty Power, Dangerous Air

The United States consumes more energy than any other country in the world. Electric utility plants dot our landscape creating power from a myriad of sources — nuclear, hydro, wind and fossil fuels — yet fifty percent of our electricity comes from a source that mankind has been using for over 1,600 years — coal. Today, the United States is home to almost 1,100 coal-fired utility units, with much of our coal being torn from the ground in eastern coal-producing states of Appalachia. And there are plans to add hundreds more coal-fired power plants in the coming years. Why? Because coal is cheap – or at least that’s what we’re told by industry and by our government. But how “cheap” is it really? Are we being told the whole story about the true cost of coal? What goes on behind King Coal’s black curtain?

Coal must be mined, transported, washed, transported again, stored, burned and converted to the electricity that flows through transmission lines and into our homes. Each step of the process is rife with hidden economic and social costs, shady backroom politics and harmful impacts on human and environmental health.

It is a myth that recent technological advances have somehow solved all the problems associated with the use of coal to power our world. Energy companies have cast an illusion that the bad days of dangerous mining and dirty burning are over: that strong laws are in place and law abiding King Coal is strictly following the law. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The truth is, there is nothing “cheap” or “clean” about coal. The cost of burning coal for electricity is far beyond what Americans outside of the coalfields ever consider or imagine. It is not reflected in this month’s utility bill, but in devastated lives and communities, forests and streams across Appalachia. It is a price we all pay in poisoned waterways and lost cultural and natural heritage.

Extraction
Mining has always been a dangerous mess. In the 1980’s machines and mining practices developed in the wide-open space, and 100-foot thick coal seams of Wyoming were brought east to the steep hills of the Appalachian Mountains. These practices are unacceptable anywhere, but in Appalachia they proved downright apocalyptic. Longwall mining replaced traditional underground mining while mountaintop removal mining took the place of strip mining. Each of these practices is far more massive in scale, requires fewer miners and chews up much more earth; these new technologies for extracting coal have raised the level of destruction to new heights.