Word: coal
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...December 22, 2008, a retaining wall at a landfill that stored fly ash from a Kingston, Tennessee, coal-fired power plant ruptured. Fly ash, a toxic byproduct of the coal-burning process, is separated from emissions by smokestack scrubbers, mixed with water, and stored in landfills. Enough slurry to fill 1,700 Olympic-sized swimming pools was dumped onto nearby homes and in tributaries of the Tennessee River. The accident killed millions of fish, destroyed 300 acres of property, and badly contaminated local water sources. The Tennessee Valley Authority estimates that the spill will require a multi-year, billion-dollar...
...this disaster been a nuclear accident, citizens and Congress would rightfully be up in arms. But the largest fly-ash spill in American history has marshaled little public opposition to coal. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress continue to regard “clean coal” as a potential major source of green energy. Despite significant advances in coal technology, commendable progress in reducing air pollution, and reductions in mining’s environmental impact, the Kingston spill demonstrates that coal is not yet a viable option for long-term “clean” fuel production...
...Admittedly, there are reasonable arguments to be made in favor of the continued use of coal. It is cheap, abundant, and domestically produced. Smokestack scrubbers remove most of the pollutants in coal before they can be emitted into the atmosphere. The federal government requires mining companies to restore exhausted mines to their former natural state. Electric utilities also claim that discoveries in coal gasification (the production of synthetic natural gas from coal) and carbon sequestration will dramatically reduce resultant greenhouse- gas emissions, rendering coal an ideal fuel for a post-cap-and-trade future...
...quickly expand gas consumption. At this stage, anyone who can use natural gas instead of crude oil is already burning gas, as the price goes lower still. There is really only one other form of energy that natural gas will replace - coal. Yes, in some geographic areas, it is currently cheaper to use natural gas than coal. Shocking, right...
...Pryce (Jared Harris), holds the newly tightened purse strings with a chilly distance from the staff and from the American illusion-weaving that the ad business is built on. Discussing client London Fog (the raincoat maker), he dryly notes, "There is no London fog. Never was. It was the coal dust from the industrial era. Charles Dickens and whatnot...