COAL MINING

DISADVATAGES

1. Mining coal is incredibly destructive to the environment

Most coal reserves are located deep underground, and accessing them is incredibly difficult.
Doing so involves clearing large geographic regions, including destroying old-growth forests.

One type of coal mining, so-called “mountaintop removal mining”, completely destroys the
outside of the mountain in order to expose the coal deposits. This clears the area of forests and
other natural habitats, leaving barren, empty landscapes.
Coal mining destroys natural habitats, not only through deforestation and mountaintop removal, but
also by contaminating the surrounding land and waterways. This, in turn, can harm or kill plants and
animals and disrupt entire ecosystems.

Coal is actually radioactive

Coal contains uranium and thorium, which are both radioactive elements. In coal’s natural form,
they are not an issue as they occur in such trace quantities.

However, when coal is burned, these radioactive components can concentrate to up to 10 times
their original levels in some of its by-products, such as fly ash.

Fly ash is produced by coal-based power plants and carries 100 times more radiation into the
surrounding environment than a nuclear power plant that produces an equivalent amount of
energy. People who live in the so-called “stack shadow”, or between half a mile and a mile from
the plant’s smokestacks, can be exposed to small levels of radiation, at least as much as people
who live near nuclear plants.

Although the risk of radiation poisoning for people living near coal plants is minimal, coal
miners face a more significant risk of health problems related to radioactivity.

- Fly ash uranium can also leach into the water and soil around the coal plant, contaminating land and
the food grown on it.

- Major source of air pollution

- Pose serious health concerns (respiratory diseases)
- Active burning of coal releases heavy metals like mercury and lead which may cause
neurological problem to humans.
- Hundred of years to produce

3. Burning coal emits harmful substances

Burning coal generates carbon monoxide, which causes air pollution and can lead to long-term
respiratory problems, trigger asthma attacks, and cause chest pains. In the US, around 1 in 10
children suffer from asthma, and this is the number one cause of illness-related absence from
school.

Coal emissions contain mercury, a toxic substance that can damage our nervous system and
cause developmental problems in babies and children.

Burning coal also releases lead. Prolonged exposure to lead can cause abdominal pain,
constipation, depression, irritability, and nausea.
Additionally, emissions from coal plants cause acid rain. This forms when sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides mix with water and other chemicals in the air to make acid that falls to the Earth
as rain.

https://www.enovaenergygroup.com/which-types-of-energy-source-produces-the-most-pollution/

4. Coal generates carbon emissions

Along with toxins like mercury and lead, coal also produces large quantities of carbon dioxide.

Coal-based power plants burn coal to produce heat which is then converted into electricity,
usually by turning a turbine with the steam produced. The turbine spins in a generator, creating
electricity.

When coal is burnt, its carbon content is converted into carbon dioxide gas (CO2) which the power plant
releases directly into the atmosphere from its smokestacks. This is produced in huge amounts: coal
contains as much as 60 to 80 per cent carbon, and nearly four ounces of CO2 is produced per ounce of
coal burnt.

CONTENT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2-W1qeX-_E

What is coal fired power plant?

 COAL is a non-renewable resource so if we are continuously used it for our power and energy
that we need every day, it will eventually be depleted

- Coal mining can cause large destruction to environment: Natural habitats of animals will be
destroyed which results to the decrease in population. Also, continues coal mining can lead to
the destruction of large part of the forest which can never be replaced because of extreme
contamination brought on the process.

(Lots of minerals were dissolved into the water such as iron, magnesium, and calcium in which
most organisms can’t tolerate and can’t be able to survive on the stream.

- Heavily polluted water from the wastes products of mining coal may greatly affect the people
living near the area as it may possibly runs through the drinking water especially those people
who are using wells as their potable water.
- Coal contains high level of carbon dioxide which causes global warming
- Coal power plants produces high levels of radiation since it works by process of combustions or
burning of coals wherein its byproduct is coal ash which produces radiation. Trivia: Did you
know that coal power plant can produce up to 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power
plant.
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- Coal emissions can cause serious health problems – people exposed to coal emission can
definitely develop asthma and other respiratory diseases which eventually leads to a lung cancer
and even death. Active burning of coal releases heavy metals like mercury and lead which may
cause neurological problem to humans.
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