Environmental And Climatic Impact Of Coal Utilization

As coal is considered as a substitute for other fuels, more serious attention is being given to the environmental impacts of the whole coal fuel cycle: mining, transport, storage, combustion and conversion. This volume presents an up-to-date account of these environmental impacts and the recent developments to combat and control them. A feature of the book is the way in which it discusses not only the experience and developments in North America and Western Europe but also presents much information made available for this study on the developments in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe.

Coal will continue to provide a major portion of energy requirements in the United States for at least the next several decades. It is imperative that accurate information describing the amount, location, and quality of the coal resources and reserves be available to fulfill energy needs. It is also important that the United States extract its coal resources efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible manner. A renewed focus on federal support for coal-related research, coordinated across agencies and with the active participation of the states and industrial sector, is a critical element for each of these requirements. Coal focuses on the research and development needs and priorities in the areas of coal resource and reserve assessments, coal mining and processing, transportation of coal and coal products, and coal utilization.

Environmental Implications of Expanded Coal Utilization focuses on the increasing consideration of coal as an alternative source of energy. This book comes as an answer to the issues on health and environment regarding the extraction, production, and use of coal. Composed of nine chapters, the selection starts by underlining the potential prospects for coal, which plays a vital role in meeting energy demands. The book also shows that problems have evolved regarding the use of coal, including land disturbance and increased land occupation due to mining. The text also notes that the international trade of coal will surely generate waste products, and some of which can be the result of poor transportation and handling. The book focuses on coal gasification and liquefaction and emphasizes that the processes involved must be carefully understood in order to avoid the environmental impacts of coal use. Attempts have been made to establish a conceptual framework to be used in assessing the health and environmental health impacts of the conversion and utilization of coal. Relative to this, discussions that follow include the trace elements that are the products of coal combustion and conversion and also coal derived carbon compounds. Another sector is focused on the evaluation of the effects of emissions on human health, especially of workers in the industry. The effects of the utilization of coal on communities are also considered. The text is a vital source of information to those involved in the research on the use of coal as alternative source of energy.

How power is wielded in environmental policy making at the state level, and how to redress the ingrained favoritism toward coal and electric utilities. The United States has pledged to the world community a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 26–28 percent below 2005 levels in 2025. Because much of this reduction must come from electric utilities, especially coal-fired power plants, coal states will make or break the U.S. commitment to emissions reduction. In Climate of Capitulation, Vivian Thomson offers an insider's account of how power is wielded in environmental policy making at the state level. Thomson, a former member of Virginia's State Air Pollution Control Board, identifies a “climate of capitulation” in state government—a deeply rooted favoritism toward coal and electric utilities in states' air pollution policies. Thomson narrates three cases involving coal and air pollution from her time on the Air Board. She illuminates the overt and covert power struggles surrounding air pollution limits for a coal-fired power plant just across the Potomac from Washington, for a controversial new coal-fired electrical generation plant in coal country, and for coal dust pollution from truck traffic in a country hollow. Thomson links Virginia's climate of capitulation with campaign donations that make legislators politically indebted to coal and electric utility interests, a traditionalistic political culture tending to inertia, and a part-time legislature that depended on outside groups for information and bill drafting. Extending her analysis to fifteen other coal-dependent states, Thomson offers policy reforms aimed at mitigating the ingrained biases toward coal and electric utilities in states' air pollution policy making.