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Dirty Energy: Coal Why It's Dirty Mountaintop Removal Mining Top 12 Coal Villians Carbon Sequestration Stopping the Coal Rush

Coal

Co-op America’s plan to combat global warming calls for a moratorium on coal.  Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels -- it creates more pollution than oil, natural gas and gasoline when burned.  As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in August 2007, “There's not a coal-fired plant in America that's clean. They're all dirty.”  If we’re going to get serious about fighting global warming, we need a complete halt to the coal industry. 

Read on to learn more about coal, why it’s dirty, mountaintop removal mining's impact on Appalachian communities, the companies with the worst projects to finance, mine and burn it, and the false promises of carbon sequestration.  Don’t give up hope after reading all that doom and gloom – we also have answers to stop the coal rush.

The Basics

• Coal is a hydrocarbon and a fossil fuel – remains of plant and animal (carbon-based) materials that have been compressed for millions of years that, when burned, release energy.

• Because coal is a form of trapped carbon, burning it releases the carbon as carbon dioxide (CO2).

• Because coal takes millions of years to form and humans take only minutes to break it down, it is a non-renewable energy source.

• Because it takes only minutes to release carbon that has taken millions of years to store, we are upsetting the natural carbon cycle dramatically and flooding the atmosphere with CO2.

• Coal is extracted from the ground by both underground and surface mining.

• Coal is the largest single source of fuel for electricity generation in the world.

• Coal is the most widely distributed fossil fuel, and is mined on all continents except Antarctica.

• The three of the most affected coal-mining states are Wyoming, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
• There are four types of burnable coal: lignite, subbituminous, bituminous, and anthracite.  Anthracite is the oldest, cleanest, highest energy coal, with the smallest reserves.  Lignite is the youngest, dirtiest, lowest energy coal, with the largest reserves.

• There is enough coal left to last about 200 more years at current rates of production.

LEARN MORE ...

• Coal: Why It's Dirty
• Mountaintop Removal Mining and its impact on Appalachian communities
• Top Twelve Coal Villains
• Why Carbon Sequestration Isn't the Answer
• Answers to Stop the Coal Rush
• What You Can Do: Shift to Green Energy