Is clean coal realistic?

The short answer: no. Not without completely restructuring not only the way coal burning power plants operate, but also completely restructuring the way the mining industry is regulated and monitored.


On December 22, 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash sludge spilled out of a 40-acre retention pond when a dam burst at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Coal Plant. The amount of sludge was enough to fill 1,660 Olympic-size swimming pools, and the volume released was about 50 times larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. How did this happen? TVA was using an unregulated and unlined dam more than 50 feet high to store coal ash, the residue that results from burning coal. Some companies dump this ash into old coal mines. Others use it in cement. But much of the ash is stored in ponds which do not seem to be regulated in any way. This was a huge disaster for not only the people who live in the area, but for the area's soil and waterways. The toxic heavy metals and sludge will contaminate this area for many years to come. On January 1, 2009 the first independent test results, conducted at the Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry laboratories at Appalachian State University, showed significantly elevated levels of toxic metals (including arsenic, copper, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, and thallium) in samples of slurry and river water. Of course, a TVA spokesman said that the TVA was "taking steps to stabilize runoff from this incident." In response to a video that showed dead fish, he stated "in terms of toxicity, until an analysis comes in, you can't call it toxic." While describing the coal ash, he said "it does have some heavy metals within it, but it's not toxic or anything." Hmmm. I would guess that the heavy metal contamination of fields will last for hundreds of years. Will TVA be forced to change the way they store coal ash? I certainly hope so. As long as coal ash is stored in this manner, coal is not clean. Here's a video showing what the river looked like several days after the spill. It's really quite disgusting.




So... is this the first time a disaster like this has happened? No. Another dam associated with an actual mining operation occurred in 2000, and another dam near Guntersville, AL leaked this month. There are many more examples of problems with these ponds. To learn more about the 2000 incident in Kentucky, which the responsible mining company was only fined $5000, watch the following 30 minute video (available for free until the end of January).

http://appalshop.org/sludge/stream.php

Until these kinds of abuses are stopped, until the mining and power industry faces strong regulation, disasters like this will continue to occur, and in the process will continue to destroy homes, fields, water supplies, and waterways.

Some additional disturbing articles about this issue:

Toxic Coal Ash Piling up in ponds in 32 states: Records indicate that states storing the most coal ash in ponds are Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama.

Coal Ash More Radioactive Than Nuclear Waste

Kingston article on Wikipedia (usually I don't like linking to Wiki, but this articles has good information).