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Should Coal Have Stricter Regulations?

Each and every day we go completely unaware of how energy is obtained or what

its advantages and disadvantages are. A majority of our day we use electricity, whether

it's using your phone or washing clothes, youre using energy to power all of those things.

But how exactly do we obtain this energy? The answer seems to always be coal; coal is a

fossilized mineral that has multiple combustible elements, along with that it's very easy to

obtain, transport, and use. The energy is obtained by burning the coal, as it may be

cheaper than other types of energy, its a very destructive piece of energy. It brings a lot

of damage to the Earth by polluting the air and waters thus hurting the organisms that

thrive off of the source. Should the use of coal be subjected to stricter environmental

regulations?

Coal as an energy source seems like an excellent idea, as coal is bountiful

resource found on Earth, it is also very easy to obtain as it is very close to the surface of

Earth, along with all of these advantages coal is very cheap to obtain and transport

because you dont need a special way to stabilize the element or special units to transport

the coal. In an article written by RP Siegel, Siegel states that Currently, coal is used to

meet almost 20 percent of Americas total energy demand and generate 40 percent of all

its energy. Coal has many advantages if used in a controlled environment, if not more

pollution is sure to rise.

Duke Energy and The Electric Power Research Institute have answered a few

questions that the public has had. The public's primary concern was how toxic coal was

and how to measure the toxicity. The Electric Power Research Institute stated, Toxicity
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can be defined as a degree to which a substance can harm living organisms. But many

people argued stating, How much toxicity is too much toxicity? People see the two

sides of the advantages and disadvantages of coal.

Studies have proven to show that coal is indeed toxic but only if used in large

quantities. Areas around coal mines show fewer organisms living near it as they either

died or left the area to survive, when the area was measured for toxic levels it showed

that no animal or human could live in those conditions for a long period of time. Coal

can be very dangerous if youre exposed to it by skin contact, drunk, or inhaled in

polluted air. More than 90 percent of the mineral components of fly ash consist of oxides

of four common elements that make up soil and rocks: silicon, iron, aluminum and

calcium stated Koski. This meant that we are in contact with toxic things every day but

we arent harmed in any way, as long as we limit our usage of toxic things and use them

moderately well be fine.

However, we may indeed come in contact with these toxic elements. How are we

supposed to limit our body to how much we can take in without it interfering with our

health? Well, Koski began to explain in another way how toxins are in our everyday lives,

he starts by showing apple juice containing 0.008 parts per million arsenic and that

consuming enough will poison your body. Thus explaining that enough of anything can

harm your body.

On the other hand, how are we to limit the pollution to survive? February 2, 2014,

a water pipe bursts under a river causing 39,000 tons of coal ash to be polluted into the

Dan River here in North Carolina. This pipe bursting caused many counties that

surrounded the area to be left without clean usable water. Yes, the spill was an accident
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but compared to the other incidents all across the U.S, this was very minimalistic to other

accidental spills. But they all cause the same things, and thats polluting our air and water.

Coal has been used as a natural resource for over 100 years and yet still companies are

required to conduct toxicity tests from lakes and rivers that have been polluted by coal.

Theyre not, they arent making sure our environment is safe for humans and animals to

survive near the site. 39,000 tons of coal seems like a large problem to just brush off your

shoulder.

Followed right beside spill issues is burning coal. When burning coal, we also put

in our air gas pollutants. Carbon dioxide is a large outcome of burning coal and that

carbon dioxide ends up building the greenhouse effect. The Greenhouse Effect is a

problem that causes heat to stay trapped in the lower atmosphere making the Earth hotter

and causing a large part in global warming. With the use of coal rising quickly, Earth is in

a situation of losing rivers and lakes caused by the Greenhouse Effect, along with losing

water sources temperatures will increase, acid rain will fall more rapidly, and wildfires
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would appear more often than usual.

Results of air pollution have not only shown how contaminated our air is but also

how its affecting the human health. Because of these pollutants in the air, people are

getting sick more often. Pollution has been linked to bronchitis, brain damage, heart

problems, and also severe asthma. We can regulate the way we use coal by limiting how
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many megawatts we use from 1,100 pounds per hour to 1,000 per hour. Its not much, but

any little bit can go a long way to saving the Earth. Most coal power plants release more

than twice what the new regulation is, but new laws are being put into place to find those

companies who continue to surpass the regulations.

Many new types of energy sources have also been looked into like Wood pellet

heating and biomass systems. These energy sources produce larges amounts of energy

without letting a lot of pollutants into the air. Data from The Biomass Energy Center

states Heating one house with coal for one year would create 10,000 pounds of carbon

emissions in a year, while heating that same house with bioheat would only create less

than 700 pounds per year. These new advances in technology could boost us towards a

much safer and healthier source of energy. They also show that naturally sourced

alternatives sharply reduce carbon emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed an idea to try to cut carbon

emissions by thirty percent by the year 2030. This would help the environment greatly;

with that big of a cut that would be eliminating a large part of greenhouse gasses allowing

a healthy world. Although the regulations could harm the natural gas power plants in the

process, EPA believes that wouldnt be such a bad thing as they put just as much

pollution into the air.

EPAs new regulations will also provide energy efficient measures to cut back o

how much energy we all use. Rodney Sobin (Directory of Alliance to Save Energy) has

stated: Its cheaper and easier to save electricity than to generate more. He also believes

instead of trying to cut it down we should get rid of it all together as we get more than

enough energy from solar, the wind, and water sources.

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In conclusion, coal has been used for hundreds of years to power our things. Yes,

it has its advantages and disadvantages. While it may save us money by being easy to

obtain, use and transport. Is it worth our health? Rules are being set into place that will

help that situation by only allowing companies to let certain toxins out. Many resources

are renewable that can make just as much energy with it being a bit costly. But can we put

a price on Earth and its inhabitants? Coal has helped us through the centuries, but maybe

its time for a change.

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Works Cited

Eliperin, Juliet. "Everything You Need to Know about the EPA's Proposed Rule

on Coal Plants." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Koski, Lindsay. "The Truth About Toxicity." In Soil - and Municipal Solid Waste.

21% (n.d.): n. pag. Www.duke-energy.com. Web. 23 Mar. 2015

Siegel, RP. "Clean Coal: Pros and Cons." Triple Pundit RSS. N.p., 08 Apr. 2012.

Web. 31 Jan. 2015.