Coal
Zach LaCroix
Kathie Wrightson
(Eng 101)
Oct. 17/14
A Most Solvable Problem
Global warming is a mixture of troubles including one specific carbon problem caused by the production coal and use of coal fired power plants. Americans overuse power, overeat food, overindulge in plug-in gadgets and overdo just about everything. Fossil fuels are used in our consumption of the overabundance of energy we use and waste. This overwhelming problem that centralizes around the use of coal, the filthiest source of energy, producing over 25% of our emissions and 75% of our emissions from electricity. The solution to this problem is relatively easy and resolvable. We simply need to burn a lot less coal, which is why President Obama’s efforts to limit carbon emissions at power plants is so important. (Grunwald, 2014) The corrections will eradicate environmental atrocities such as: environmental health hazards; toxic sludge; mountaintop debris; destruction of earth’s natural landscape; coal ash spills and the abolishment of the claim that coal is clean.
Unemployment has skyrocketed in certain counties in the United States due to imposed restrictions against coal production. The biggest single argument in favor of keeping the coal industry alive is the continued employment of people in the coal mining regions.
The lengthy list of reasons why coal production should be phased out over time for the quality of human health, environmental concerns relating to land, water and air contamination; Environmental hazards including air pollution emissions causing Green House Gas (GHG) global warming, and emitting toxic chemicals into the air which we breath, attributing to human health issues. Toxic Sludge from coal mining are kept in large uncontrolled pools, left behind on the mountain tops which are free to seep into the water table, or leak and break away, as did 300 million gallons sent into the Big Sandy River in Kentucky in 2013 (YouTube - Plundering Appalacai). The
Kathie Wrightson
(Eng 101)
Oct. 17/14
A Most Solvable Problem
Global warming is a mixture of troubles including one specific carbon problem caused by the production coal and use of coal fired power plants. Americans overuse power, overeat food, overindulge in plug-in gadgets and overdo just about everything. Fossil fuels are used in our consumption of the overabundance of energy we use and waste. This overwhelming problem that centralizes around the use of coal, the filthiest source of energy, producing over 25% of our emissions and 75% of our emissions from electricity. The solution to this problem is relatively easy and resolvable. We simply need to burn a lot less coal, which is why President Obama’s efforts to limit carbon emissions at power plants is so important. (Grunwald, 2014) The corrections will eradicate environmental atrocities such as: environmental health hazards; toxic sludge; mountaintop debris; destruction of earth’s natural landscape; coal ash spills and the abolishment of the claim that coal is clean.
Unemployment has skyrocketed in certain counties in the United States due to imposed restrictions against coal production. The biggest single argument in favor of keeping the coal industry alive is the continued employment of people in the coal mining regions.
The lengthy list of reasons why coal production should be phased out over time for the quality of human health, environmental concerns relating to land, water and air contamination; Environmental hazards including air pollution emissions causing Green House Gas (GHG) global warming, and emitting toxic chemicals into the air which we breath, attributing to human health issues. Toxic Sludge from coal mining are kept in large uncontrolled pools, left behind on the mountain tops which are free to seep into the water table, or leak and break away, as did 300 million gallons sent into the Big Sandy River in Kentucky in 2013 (YouTube - Plundering Appalacai). The
Cited: Kloc, Joe. "West Virginia 's Water Fallout." Newsweek 28 Feb. 2014: 1. Gale Power Search. Web. 14 September 2014 "Obama 's war on coal." National Review 23 June 2014: 14. Gale Power Search. Web. 14 September 2014 Plundering Appalachia - The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Coal Mining." YouTube. YouTube, 07 Aug. 2009. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. "The politics of coal; Lexington." The Economist 17 May 2014: 31(US). Gale Power Search. Web. 14 September 2014 Time Magazine Michael Grunwald June 23, 2014Time Magazine Michael Grunwald June 23, 2014