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Environmental impacts of coal-fired electric generation

   
       
 

Coal-burning power plants

Citizens Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, Clean Air Task Force, Laid to Waste, March 2000. Available online at www.hecweb.org/ccw/LaidToWaste.pdf.

Energy Information Administration (EIA), Form EIA-767 (Steam-Electric Plant Operation and Design Report), US Department of Energy (DOE), 1991.

Nogee, Alan, Steve Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad, Powerful Solutions, Union of Concerned Scientists, January 1999. Available online at www.ucsusa.org/energy/assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-39.


Fuel supply

Coal mining

Citizens Coal Council, Mountaintop Removal Strip Mining, 2000. Available online at www.citizenscoalcouncil.org/mtr.htm.

Henry, Katherine, Coal Mining in the United States: SMCRA's Successful Blueprint, online at www.osmre.gov/kay1.txt.

National Mining Association, Mining Facts/About Coal, online at www.nma.org/coalfacts.html.

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Kentucky Coal Disaster information online at www.tngreen.com/cleanenergy/energy/coal/KYdisaster/index.html


Coal transportation

Nogee, Alan, Steve Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad, Powerful Solutions, Union of Concerned Scientists, January 1999. Available online at www.ucsusa.org//assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-39.

US EPA, National Air Pollutant Emission Trends, 1900 - 1998, EPA-454/R-00-002, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, March 2000. Available online at www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/trends98/browse.html.

Coal storage

Citizens Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, Clean Air Task Force, Laid to Waste, March 2000. Available online at www.catf.us/publications/reports/Laid_to_Waste.pdf.


Water use

Nogee, Alan, Steve Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad, Powerful Solutions, Union of Concerned Scientists, January 1999. Available online at www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-39.

Utility Data Institute (UDI). Power Statistics Database, 1995.

US EPA, Economic and Engineering Analyses of the Proposed Section 316(b) New Facility Rule, EPA-821-R-00-019, Office of Water, August 2000. Online at www.epa.gov/ostwater/316b/support/index.html.

US Geological Survey (USGS), Offstream Use, Available online at water.usgs.gov/watuse/pdf1995/pdf/summary.pdf.


Air pollution

Clean Air Network, America's Poisoned Power: Electricity & Pollution from Power Plants. Available online at http://www.greenlink.org/assess/pdfs/cleanairnetwork.pdf

Clean Air Network, Fast Facts on Power Plants, April 2000. Available online at http://www.greenlink.org/assess/pdfs/cleanairnetwork.pdf

Mushak, Paul, Arsenic and Old Laws: A Scientific and Public Health Analysis of Arsenic Occurrence in Drinking Water, Its Health Effects, and EPA's Outdated Arsenic Tap Water Standard, Report prepared for the Natural Resources Defense Council, February 2000. Available online at www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/arsenic/aolinx.asp.

National Wildlife Federation. The Toll from Coal. Available online at
http://www.nwf.org/resourceLibrary/getData.cfm?officeID=F900DEAF-65BF-0A01-01701811953FA0EB&catID=64235E79-65BF-1173-5DAAF6EFD4185A34&pageID=645110D0-65BF-1173-5BC23940D6983D21

Nogee, Alan, Steve Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad, Powerful Solutions, Union of Concerned Scientists, January 1999. Available online at www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-39.

Worldwatch Institute, Phasing Out Coal: Environmental Concerns, Subsidy Cuts Fuel Global Decline, press release. Available at www.worldwatch.org/alerts/990825.html.


Wastes generated

Solid waste

Citizens Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, Clean Air Task Force, Laid to Waste, March 2000. Available online at www.hecweb.org/ccw/LaidToWaste.pdf.

Hopkins, W.A., C.L. Rowe, J.H. Roe, D.E. Scott, M.T. Mendonia, and J.D. Congdon, Ecotoxicological Impact of Coal Combustion Byproducts on Amphibians and Reptiles, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, presented at the Society for Environmental Toxicolgy and Chemstry, Abstract No. PMP009, 1999.

US EPA, Report to Congress: Wastes from the Combustion of Fossil Fuels, March 1999. Available online at www.epa.gov/epaoswer/other/fossil/volume_1.pdf.

Cooling water discharge

Nogee, Alan, Steve Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad, Powerful Solutions, Union of Concerned Scientists, January 1999. Available online at www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-39.

State of California Public Utilities Commission, San Diego Gas and Electric Company's Divesture of Electric Generating Assets: Environmental Review. Available online at www.sdgedivest.com/chapters/04-04wat.htm.

US EPA, Economic and Engineering Analyses of the Proposed Section 316(b) New Facility Rule, EPA-821-R-00-019, Office of Water, August 2000. Online at www.epa.gov/ostwater/316b/support/index.html.

Waste heat

US Department of Energy (DOE), Vision 21: A Concept for Tomorrow's Pollution-Free Energy Plant, Available online at www.fe.doe.gov/cpower/vision21/vision21_sum.html.

Nogee, Alan, Steve Clemmer, Bentham Paulos, and Brent Haddad, Powerful Solutions, Union of Concerned Scientists, January 1999. Available online at www.ucsusa.org//assets/documents/jump.jsp?origID=pdf-39.


Industry perspectives

National Mining Association, Mining Facts/About Coal, online at www.nma.org/coalfacts.html.

Chevron, What Everyone Should Know About Coal, online at www.chevroncars.com/know/coal/.

 

Tell me more about:
AIR POLLUTION
WASTES GENERATED
FUEL SUPPLY
WATER USE
REFERENCES

Related links:
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
    OF COAL POWER
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
    OF WIND POWER
LEARN MORE ABOUT
    HOW COAL WORKS
LEARN MORE ABOUT
    CLEAN ENERGY ALTERNATIVES
LEARN MORE ABOUT
    GLOBAL WARMING
LEARN MORE ABOUT
    AUTO AIR IMPACTS

Practical Solutions:
SWITCHING TO CLEAN ENERGY
SWITCHING TO
    CLEAN TRANSPORTATION

 


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