Hazards of mining and preparation

Coal is abundant and inexpensive. Assuming that current rates of usage and production do not change, estimates of reserves indicate that enough coal remains to last more than 200 years. There are, however, a variety of problems associated with the use of coal.

Mining operations are hazardous. Each year hundreds of coal miners lose their lives or are seriously injured. Major mine hazards include roof falls, rock bursts, and fires and explosions. The latter result when flammable gases (such as methane) trapped in the coal are released during mining operations and accidentally are ignited. Methane may be extracted from coal beds prior to mining through the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which involves high-pressure injection of fluids underground in order to open fissures in rock that would allow trapped gas or crude oil to escape into pipes that would bring the material to the surface. Methane extraction was expected to lead to safer mines and provide a source of natural gas that had long been wasted. However, enthusiasm for this technology has been tempered with the knowledge that fracking has also been associated with groundwater contamination. In addition, miners working belowground often inhale coal dust over extended periods of time, which can result in serious health problems—for example, black lung.

Coal mines and coal-preparation plants have caused much environmental damage. Surface mining, or strip mining, destroys natural habitats, and one type of surface mining, known as mountaintop removal mining, dramatically and irreparably alters the topography of the area. Surface areas exposed during mining, as well as coal and rock waste (which were often dumped indiscriminately), weather rapidly, producing abundant sediment and soluble chemical products such as sulfuric acid and iron sulfates. Nearby streams can become clogged with sediment. Iron oxides have stained rocks, and “acid mine drainage” has caused marked reductions in the numbers of plants and animals living in the vicinity. Potentially toxic elements, leached from the exposed coal and adjacent rocks, are released into the environment and may contaminate groundwater supplies. Since the 1970s, stricter laws have significantly reduced the environmental damage caused by coal mining in developed countries, though more-severe damage continues to occur in many developing countries.

Pollution from coal utilization

Coal utilization is associated with various forms of air pollution. During the incomplete burning or conversion of coal, many compounds are produced, some of which are carcinogenic. The burning of coal also produces sulfur and nitrogen oxides that react with atmospheric moisture to produce sulfuric and nitric acids—so-called acid rain. In addition, it produces particulate matter (fly ash) that can be transported by winds for many hundreds of kilometres and solids (bottom ash and slag) that must be disposed of. Trace elements originally present in the coal may escape as volatiles (e.g., chlorine and mercury) or be concentrated in the ash (e.g., arsenic and barium). Densely populated areas that burn coal directly for heating—such as the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar—can suffer from unhealthy levels of air pollution, and areas near coal-burning power plants frequently have poorer air quality. Some of the harmful pollutants can be trapped by using such devices as electrostatic precipitators, baghouses, and scrubbers, but the technology is less common in developing countries. Current research on alternative means for combustion (e.g., fluidized bed combustion, magnetohydrodynamics, and low nitrogen dioxide burners) is expected to provide efficient and environmentally attractive methods for extracting energy from coal. Regardless of the means used for combustion, acceptable ways of disposing of the waste products have to be found.

The burning of coal, like the burning of all fossil fuels (oil and natural gas included), releases large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere and is a major driver of global warming. A potent greenhouse gas, CO₂ molecules allow the shorter-wavelength rays from the Sun to enter the atmosphere and strike Earth’s surface, but they do not allow much of the long-wave radiation reradiated from the surface to escape into space. The CO₂ absorbs this upward-propagating infrared radiation and reemits a portion of it downward, causing the lower atmosphere to remain warmer than it would otherwise be. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is substantial evidence that higher concentrations of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases due to human activity have increased the mean temperature of Earth since 1950. Indeed, the burning of coal is the single largest contributor to anthropogenic climate change, with much of those emissions coming from the production of electricity using coal-powered plants. Technologies being considered to reduce carbon dioxide levels include biological fixation, cryogenic recovery, disposal in the oceans and aquifers, and conversion to methanol, but most climate scientists urgently advocate for a global transition away from coal in favour of renewable energies like solar and wind power.