Hidden Cost of coal

[RandomGuy]

Coal companies regularly profit on negative externalities.


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Environmental groups said in court Monday that the Tennessee Valley Authority is essentially storing toxic ash from an aging Tennessee coal-fired power plant in a colander, letting pollutants seep into a major river in violation of the Clean Water Act.

In the bench trial that began Monday in federal court in Nashville, TVA responded that the Tennessee Clean Water Network and Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association can't prove the federal utility is polluting the water supply in violation of the law or its permits at the Gallatin Fossil Plant, 40 miles outside Nashville.

The trial follows a related 2015 state lawsuit by Tennessee environmental officials against the nation's largest public utility, which powers 9 million customers in parts of seven Southern states. The environmentalists don't think the state required sufficient changes from TVA at the plant to safeguard against contamination of the Cumberland River.

In opening remarks, environmental attorney Beth Alexander said the coal ash facility essentially didn't hold any waste for the first eight years it was in use, letting 27 billion gallons of coal ash seep from sinkholes into groundwater and the river. TVA filled some of those sinkholes, Alexander said, but many still exist.

"There's a direct hydrological connection between the groundwater and the Cumberland River," said Alexander, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is helping in the case. "Ash goes into the ash ponds, through the groundwater and ends up in the river."

In TVA's defense, attorney David Ayliffe said that the utility took effective steps to fix its leaks in the 1970s. Those problems are in the past, he said.

"There's no evidence of a karst pipeline extending up into the pond and sucking water out," Ayliffe said, referring to rocks that dissolve, including limestone.

The utility says it's investing billions of dollars in safer ways to store coal ash and other waste from burning coal across its operations.

That includes converting all of its wet coal-ash storage to dry storage, a decision made after a 2008 coal ash disaster at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant. More than 5 million cubic yards of sludge from the plant spilled into the Emory and Clinch rivers that year, destroying homes in a nearby waterfront community.

The Gallatin plant sits on a bend of the river, which extends almost 700 miles from eastern Kentucky headwaters through Tennessee to meet up with the Ohio River in western Kentucky. Nearby residents have private wells and the Cumberland River supplies drinking water to Nashville, about 40 miles away, among other areas.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/claims-coal-fired-plant-polluted-river-utility-faces-210330514.html

[boutons_deux]

Trash's DOJ will defend BigCoal, just Like it won't defend Obama's OT rule

[SnakeBoy]

In Trump's America coal ash will be sold for construction uses instead of disposed of.

#MAGA

[boutons_deux]

In Trump's America coal ash will be sold for construction uses instead of disposed of.

#MAGA

Why has coal ash in concrete not been done so far?

Like in the concrete of Trash's buildings? He's such an leading edge innovator.

Not economical?

[boutons_deux]

Trash gonna bring back all the coal jobs

Wind, solar produce 10 percent of US electricity for first time

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/337831-wind-solar-produce-10-percent-of-us-electricity-for-first-time

[RandomGuy]

In Trump's America coal ash will be sold for construction uses instead of disposed of.

#MAGA

Link?

Or is that too much to ask?

[DMC]

OP do you sell solar products? Sounds like you have a financial stake in this.

[boutons_deux]

Clean coal – Coal company owner admits it’s a dirty lie

Robert Murray is the CEO of Murray Energy, America’s largest privately-owned coal-mining company.

Murray was in Washington recently to attend a meeting of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

Scott Pruitt, the alleged administrator of the EPA, was present to tell the group about his plan to counterattack climate scientists by hiring a bunch of charlatans supported by the Koch Brothers and other fossil fuel interests to say whatever they are paid to say, no matter the consequences.

How odd, then, that at a conference on clean coal, Murray told the press, “Carbon capture and sequestration does not work.

It’s a pseudonym for ‘no coal.’

It is neither practical nor economic, carbon capture and sequestration.

“It is just cover for the politicians, both Republicans and Democrats that say, ‘Look what I did for coal,’ knowing all the time that it doesn’t help coal at all.”

http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/07/25/clean-coal-coal-company-owner-admits-dirty-lie/

[boutons_deux]

‘Fossil fuels are dead’ says rail baron who hauls 800,000 carloads of coal a year


CEO of CSX won’t buy any new locomotives for coal, undercutting Trump’s claims coal can be revived.


There’s no future in transporting coal, says Hunter Harrison, CEO of CSX freight railroad.

Harrison told analysts on Wednesday that CSX, one of the country’s largest transporters of coal, won’t buy any new locomotives to haul the fuel. “Coal is not a long-term issue,” he said. The company currently hauls some 800,000 carloads of coal a year.

“Fossil fuels are dead,” Harrison continued. “That’s a long-term view. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to be in two or three years. But it’s going away, in my view.”

Harrison joins a chorus of experts who understand that economic reality makes President Donald Trump’s pledges to significantly expand the use of coal just empty words.


“These [coal plants] will not reopen whatever anything President Trump does,” as Bloomberg New Energy Finance explained earlier this year, “nor do we see much appetite among investors for ploughing money into U.S. coal extraction?—?stranded asset risk will trump rhetoric.”


https://thinkprogress.org/fossil-fuels-are-dead-says-rail-baron-b177af077344

[boutons_deux]

‘Coal is dead’ and oil faces ‘peak demand,’ says world’s largest investment group

BlackRock investment group, with $5 trillion in assets, is bullish on electric cars and renewables

“Coal is dead,” Jim Barry, the global head of BlackRock’s infrastructure investment group, explained (http://www.afr.com/business/mining/coal/blackrock-says-coal-is-dead-as-it-eyes-renewable-power-splurge-20170524-gwbuu6) in a recent interview.

BlackRock, the world’s largest investment group, with $5 trillion in assets — more than the world’s largest banks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_banks) — has begun to bet on clean energy.

Why? “The thing that has changed fundamentally the whole picture is that renewables have gotten so cheap,” said Barry.

No, the world’s coal plants are not going to all down shut tomorrow, Barry noted to The Australian Financial Review (http://www.afr.com/business/mining/coal/blackrock-says-coal-is-dead-as-it-eyes-renewable-power-splurge-20170524-gwbuu6)(subscription required).

“But anyone who’s looking to take beyond a 10-year view on coal is gambling very significantly.”

https://thinkprogress.org/coal-is-dead-692729aa910d

[boutons_deux]

Utility blows $7.5 billion only to prove clean coal is a cruel hoax

Beginning in 2010, Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest utilities, began construction of a new electricity generating facility in Kemper County, Mississippi. Its sole mission was to prove once and for all that clean coal technology worked.

Projected to cost $3.5 billion, the project is now 3 years overdue and $4 billion over budget.

Now the company has run up the white flag of surrender. It announced this week that it is “immediately suspending start-up and operations activities” for coal gasification at the Kemper County plant.

After years of being pushed by the Mississippi public utilities commission to rein in the runaway project, it is abandoning the whole idea and will operate the facility on natural gas instead.

http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/07/01/utility-blows-7-5-billion-prove-clean-coal-cruel-hoax/

[Fabbs]

Ya, you Repugs sure are all for no gov't handouts and St Ronnies "get gov't off our backs."

West Virginia Gov. Justice Asks Trump for $4.5 Billion to Save Eastern Coal
Miners in Western states say proposal goes against free market principles

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is asking President Donald Trump to extend his support for the coal industry by providing some $4.5 billion a year in federal funding for Eastern coal, a proposal miners in Western states say goes against free-market principles.
The governor, who days ago switched parties to Republican from Democrat,

whole article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-virginia-gov-justice-asks-trump-for-4-5-billion-to-save-eastern-coal-1502312048

Gee I wonder if maybe, just maybe this bitches switching to Repug and asking for a 4.5 billion handout is in any way shape or form tied to his voting the way Bitch McConnell and Trump want him to in upcoming votes. :rolleyes

[RandomGuy]

OP do you sell solar products? Sounds like you have a financial stake in this.

Nope. Thought about it though.

[RandomGuy]

In Trump's America coal ash will be sold for construction uses instead of disposed of.

#MAGA


Since coal contains trace levels of trace elements (like e.g. arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, thallium, selenium, molybdenum and mercury), fly ash obtained after combustion of this coal contains enhanced concentrations of these elements, and therefore the potential of the ash to cause groundwater pollution needs to be evaluated.[37] In the USA there are documented cases of groundwater pollution which followed ash disposal or utilization without the necessary protection means.[38]

In 2014, residents living near the Buck Steam Station in Dukeville, North Carolina, were told that "coal ash pits near their homes could be leaching dangerous materials into groundwater

In Trumps America, kids grow up with damaged nervous systems.

Maybe you want us to start using lead pipes again? You first.

[boutons_deux]

In Trumps America, kids grow up with damaged nervous systems.

Maybe you want us to start using lead pipes again? You first.

and 3000 water systems have MORE lead than Flint water

America of the lower 80% in unstoppable decline, as is the American environment

[Pavlov]

In Trump's America coal ash will be sold for construction uses instead of disposed of.

#MAGA:lol they made it easier to dump ash in streams like two days after this post.

[boutons_deux]

Federal jury sides with sickened workers and families in Tennessee coal ash cleanup case

More than 30 workers assigned to cleanup work at the Kingston coal ash site have died.

More than 30 workers assigned to cleanup work at the Kingston site have died (https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/11/07/verdict-reached-favor-sickened-workers-coal-ash-cleanup-lawsuit/1917514002/) and more than 250 are sick or dying.

Many of the workers’ family members also are believed to have been sickened by exposure to the coal ash the workers brought home on their skin and clothing after each day on the job, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported (https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/11/07/verdict-reached-favor-sickened-workers-coal-ash-cleanup-lawsuit/1917514002/).

a worker for Jacobs Engineering testified (https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/10/17/witness-public-image-trumped-worker-safety-kingston-coal-ash-spill/1644133002/) that the company was more worried about public perception than worker safety.

A company supervisor told the worker, Robert Muse Jr.,

to report any other workers who were wearing respiratory gear to clean up the coal ash and that the employees would be dealt with —

the company didn’t want the workers wearing safety gear for fear about how that would look.

Jacobs Engineering did not want to give the appearance that the coal ash was something the public should worry about.

https://thinkprogress.org/federal-jury-sides-with-sickened-workers-and-families-in-tennessee-coal-ash-cleanup-case-51572c2868c9/

but still, coal ash is not considered a toxic substance by oligarchy-captured govt regulators

but marijuana is Schedule I (gotta lock up the knittas and mexicans and hippies)

[Winehole23]

wow

[Winehole23]

here's another article about the clean up crews.

they were denied basic protective gear by their employers.


But it also concentrates dozens of naturally occurring heavy metals, including known carcinogens and toxins (https://ehs.duke.edu/2018/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/09/Kravchenko_Coal-Ash.pdf) such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, vanadium, chromium, as well as radioactive uranium and radon. These metals pose the greatest health threat from coal ash. Even without a catastrophic spill, they can leach into and contaminate groundwater. Attached to fine particles of ash they can drift through the air, blowing onto skin and into nostrils.



Some coal ash particles are so fine—less than 2.5 microns in diameter, a 30th the width of a human hair (https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics)—that they can be sucked deep into the lungs and become a health hazard even without toxic hitchhikers. PM 2.5, as such particles are called, are also in smog, smoke, and auto exhaust, and they’re a known cause of numerous respiratory and cardiovascular diseases (https://ehs.duke.edu/2018/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/09/Kravchenko_Coal-Ash.pdf) and a significant cause of global mortality (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28696208).

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/coal-other-dark-side-toxic-ash/

[boutons_deux]

who expects coal-lobbyist EPA chief Wheeler to categorize coal ash, finally, as a toxic substance?

Repugs govern, MORE people suffer and die

[RandomGuy]

here's another article about the clean up crews.

they were denied basic protective gear by their employers.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/coal-other-dark-side-toxic-ash/

But, but, the jobs!!!

Stuff like this is my go-to response when asshats start blathering about "coal jobs".

That and black lung.

[Pavlov]

But, but, the jobs!!!

Stuff like this is my go-to response when asshats start blathering about "coal jobs".

That and black lung.That recent Frontline about black lung was sad. Coal needs to die.

[SpursforSix]

That recent Frontline about black lung was sad. Coal needs to die.

FWIW, there's an excellent Netflix doc, "Blood on the Mountain" that's worth watching. Also the older, "Harlan County".

[RandomGuy]

That recent Frontline about black lung was sad. Coal needs to die.

Agreed. My home state of Wyoming clocks 50 MPH winds and has some of THE best wind power sites in the country, but the coal companies regularly fuck over hte wind power companies through their control of the lege.

Can't come soon enough IMO.

[RandomGuy]

FWIW, there's an excellent Netflix doc, "Blood on the Mountain" that's worth watching. Also the older, "Harlan County".

"negative externality". Saw part of "Blood" and yes, it is worth watching. Should finish it sometime.

[boutons_deux]

Furious Coal Miners Blast McConnell For Ignoring Black Lung Plea

Kentucky coal miners who were dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are now appearing in an ad for Democrat Amy McGrath, who is running to replace him.

“Ten hours on the bus, and we got to see him for all of one minute,”

says Kentucky coal miner Jimmy Moore in the ad, which was released Friday.

Moore explains in the video that his stepfather and grandfather died from black lung disease and notes that his son is suffering from the malady.

"Mitch McConnell let the coal companies walk away from us, then after one minute, he did too,” Moore concludes.

McConnell’s office had said before the meeting that he was concerned about the issue, :lol

but once the miners and their family members arrived,

McConnell posed (https://shareblue.com/mcconnell-poses-for-photos-with-coal-miners-seeking-help-but-he-wont-talk-to-them/) for photos with them but did not stay to listen to a discussion of their concerns. :lol

The group did meet with Democratic senators who held a round table discussion and pushed Congress to pass the legislation.

The fund is $4 billion in debt

but the tax was cut by 50 percent while Republicans had full control of the government.

The drop in funding is a direct outgrowth of Trump’s decision to shut down (https://shareblue.com/coal-miners-trump-mcconnell-black-lung-industry-tax/) the government.

McConnell has gleefully called himself (https://shareblue.com/mitch-mcconnell-threat-obstruction-trump-2020-grim-reaper/) the “Grim Reaper” of popular legislation,

refusing to act on bills like

gun control,

health care,

raising the minimum wage, and

a host of other bills that have passed the House and have broad support.

https://www.nationalmemo.com/furious-coal-miners-blast-mcconnell-for-ignoring-black-lung-plea/?cn-reloaded=1 (https://www.nationalmemo.com/furious-coal-miners-blast-mcconnell-for-ignoring-black-lung-plea/?cn-reloaded=1)

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/104081166-GettyImages-613835366.jpg?v=1553788078&w=678&h=381

[RandomGuy]

Furious Coal Miners Blast McConnell For Ignoring Black Lung Plea

Kentucky coal miners who were dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are now appearing in an ad for Democrat Amy McGrath, who is running to replace him.

“Ten hours on the bus, and we got to see him for all of one minute,”

says Kentucky coal miner Jimmy Moore in the ad, which was released Friday.

Moore explains in the video that his stepfather and grandfather died from black lung disease and notes that his son is suffering from the malady.

"Mitch McConnell let the coal companies walk away from us, then after one minute, he did too,” Moore concludes.

McConnell’s office had said before the meeting that he was concerned about the issue, :lol

but once the miners and their family members arrived,

McConnell posed (https://shareblue.com/mcconnell-poses-for-photos-with-coal-miners-seeking-help-but-he-wont-talk-to-them/) for photos with them but did not stay to listen to a discussion of their concerns. :lol

The group did meet with Democratic senators who held a round table discussion and pushed Congress to pass the legislation.

The fund is $4 billion in debt

but the tax was cut by 50 percent while Republicans had full control of the government.

The drop in funding is a direct outgrowth of Trump’s decision to shut down (https://shareblue.com/coal-miners-trump-mcconnell-black-lung-industry-tax/) the government.

McConnell has gleefully called himself (https://shareblue.com/mitch-mcconnell-threat-obstruction-trump-2020-grim-reaper/) the “Grim Reaper” of popular legislation,

refusing to act on bills like

gun control,

health care,

raising the minimum wage, and

a host of other bills that have passed the House and have broad support.

https://www.nationalmemo.com/furious-coal-miners-blast-mcconnell-for-ignoring-black-lung-plea/?cn-reloaded=1 (https://www.nationalmemo.com/furious-coal-miners-blast-mcconnell-for-ignoring-black-lung-plea/?cn-reloaded=1)

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/104081166-GettyImages-613835366.jpg?v=1553788078&w=678&h=381

Already donated to her campaign. It will be well financed.

ActBlue

[SnakeBoy]

Already donated to her campaign. It will be well financed.

ActBlue

Thought you were putting everything towards paying off debt so you could afford to adopt some Libyans

[RandomGuy]

Thought you were putting everything towards paying off debt so you could afford to adopt some Libyans

Nah, I bet it all on White Millenials leaving the Democratic party in droves. :rollin

[RandomGuy]

Thought you were putting everything towards paying off debt so you could afford to adopt some Libyans

This election cycle will see my family donating a fair amount to campaigns, nothing huge, but it is a start. I'm sure you would prefer that not to happen, but it will. Suck it.

[SnakeBoy]

This election cycle will see my family donating a fair amount to campaigns, nothing huge, but it is a start. I'm sure you would prefer that not to happen, but it will. Suck it.

I don't mind at all. It's your money and fuck those old news Libyans.

Real question though. Why aren't you (and your comrades) being more strategic in your donations? McGrath is just another wannabee trying to fail upwards like Beto, she can't win. With your prospects of taking the WH looking so dim you should be focused on Senate seats you actually have a chance of flipping. Your side screws this election up yet again and Mitch will go down as the most significant majority leader in history.

[Pavlov]

With your prospects of taking the WH looking so dim
https://media.giphy.com/media/pPhyAv5t9V8djyRFJH/giphy.gif

[boutons_deux]

‘Like a Death in the Family’

Texas coal companies are leaving behind contaminated land. The state is letting them.

Alonzo Peeler Jr. struck a series of deals with three electric cooperatives: They could build a coal-fired power plant on the sprawling Atascosa County ranch

... thought the contract he signed ensured the

cooperatives would promptly restore his land as soon as they were done mining it.

In fact, the agreement required them to begin restoring the land within six months of abandoning excavated areas.

That wasn’t just in the contract, either:

State and federal laws require companies to “reclaim” mined land,

a process in which companies restore land to its former condition

so that it can be used again for grazing cattle, building homes, and businesses or recreation.

San Miguel has only fully restored about a fifth of the land it disturbed.

What’s more, the Peelers say the condition of the land that the cooperative has yet to restore is deteriorating.

Throughout the 4,000-plus acres of Peeler property that San Miguel mined over a quarter century,

it has buried powdery gray coal ash — a byproduct of burning coal at its nearby power plant — in deep mine pits and piled it into towering mounds.

The family says the damage is revealed in persistent sprawling wet spots on the property — even though the rural area about 50 miles south of San Antonio is always in and out of drought — and moonscape-like dead zones

the soil and surface water contained levels of arsenic and other contaminants considered unsafe for human exposure (https://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/comm_exec/pubs/rg/rg-366-trrp-25.pdf);

the surface water also contained levels of calcium and sulfur considered unsafe for livestock consumption.

the groundwater just beneath San Miguel’s power plant was more contaminated than any of the others.

the cooperative has been fined by the state of Texas in recent years for releasing wastewater into a creek tributary (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6451785-TCEQ-2015-San-Miguel-enforcement-order.html) and allowing (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6288385-San-Miguel-11G-NOV-114A.html) sediment from its mine to run off onto Peeler property.)

the Peelers tried to kick San Miguel off their property, saying their efforts to get the cooperative to accelerate restoration had been unsuccessful.

San Miguel promptly sued.

the Peelers took their complaints to the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency that regulates coal mining.
But Jason Peeler said a commission inspector who visited the ranch last year and surveyed the mounds of coal ash

“told us that he would let his kids play in [it], it was no big deal.” :lol

the Railroad Commission’s

Surface Mining and Reclamation Division. ... led by Denny Kingsley, a former coal executive

who had retired from a 36-year career in the industry a few months before being hired to help regulate it. :lol

helped mining companies throughout Texas avoid penalties and minimize their reclamation responsibilities,

perpetuating what the employees said was a pattern of pro-industry behavior among division leadership going back years.

Kingsley and Wootton on several occasions overruled staff when they identified problems with mining companies’ proposed reclamation plans or flagged violations.

The Railroad Commission has increasingly allowed companies to do the bare minimum when cleaning up their mining sites

The result of these practices is that there are potentially thousands of acres across Texas contaminated with toxic chemicals, which can leach into the groundwater and soil and endanger people’s health.

“A lot of our practices through the years allowed the mining companies to do not very good reclamation and turn back land to some of the landowners that was inadequate, or not as good as it was before, due to the fact that

it costs too much to do the right thing.”

https://grist.org/article/texas-peeler-ranch-san-miguel-electric-cooperative-railroad-commission/ (https://grist.org/article/texas-peeler-ranch-san-miguel-electric-cooperative-railroad-commission/)

All those good ol' boys are PROUD to be Texans and LOVE Texas, but they'll fuck Texans and Texas for profit.

[Winehole23]

The Kingston coal ash spill in 2008 is the largest industrial accident in US history.

51 people died cleaning it up without PPE. Hundreds more suffered cardiac, pulmonaryy and neurological sickness. And cancer.

1338899411645190146

[ElNono]

The Kingston coal ash spill in 2008 is the largest industrial accident in US history.

51 people died cleaning it up without PPE. Hundreds more suffered cardiac, pulmonaryy and neurological sickness. And cancer.

1338899411645190146

https://i.gifer.com/DMVm.gif

[Winehole23]

"fugitive dust"

the reporter, Jamie Satterfield, has been canned by Gannett for speaking at a public meeting about coal ash hazards, which she has been reporting on for years.



More than two years after Knox News sounded the alarm that children could be exposed to radioactive coal ash on an East Tennessee playground, an independent scientific study has confirmed coal ash waste at the site.


The study — published this week in one of the nation's top environmental science and technology journals — reveals coal ash contamination at a children’s playground adjacent to the Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run coal-fired power plant in Claxton and on several properties downwind of the plant.


Coal ash is the byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity, and it contains a toxic stew of 26 cancer-causing pollutants and radioactive heavy metals.



TVA stores millions of tons of coal ash in the working-class neighborhood of Claxton and, so far, plans to leave it there when the utility shuts down Bull Run in less than two years.https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2021/07/27/coal-ash-claxton-tennessee-playground-confirmed-duke-testing/7957371002/

[RandomGuy]

"fugitive dust"

the reporter, Jamie Satterfield, has been canned by Gannett for speaking at a public meeting about coal ash hazards, which she has been reporting on for years.




https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2021/07/27/coal-ash-claxton-tennessee-playground-confirmed-duke-testing/7957371002/

sad.

and sadly predictable.

gimmie those cheap windmills. we'll figure out what to do with the blades later.

sigh.