Clean Coal Ignorance
Both Kenny Golden and Scott Rigell at last night’s debate revealed their total ignorance when it came to the reality of coal.
Number 1, there is no such thing as “clean coal”. “Clean coal” is the product of carbon capture sequestration (otherwise known as CCS). CCS is a process by which the carbon emissions produced by burning coal such as in a power plant are injected into the ground. The technology to do so is at least a decade away for being realized. No where on God’s green earth is anyone enabling CCS.
Number 2, coal is a fossil fuel. Duh! Burning coal not only contributes to climate change with its dirty carbon emissions, it also produces NOx emissions that contribute to ozone pollution. The Surry coal plant for instance will contribute over 3,000 tons of NOx emissions into the Hampton Roads’ air, which has been designated for non-attainment by the EPA. This non-attainment status will have very costly impacts on our area’s ability to collect Federal highway dollars as well as attracting new businesses to the area as there will be additional air quality regulations imposed on their activities, to say nothing about the health effects of increased numbers of “bad air” days as children and seniors suffering from asthma.
The coal delivered to power plants for burning in large part comes from the practice of mountain top removal. The tops of mountains are literally blown off to get to the coal seams. What’s left is barren moonscapes smattering the Appalachian mountains. So many mountains have been obliterated that the devastation is viewable via satellite imaging. The material blown off mountains is dumped into the valleys below. Thousands of miles of clean beautiful mountain streams have been completely buried. The contours of the landscape has been so dramatically altered that runoff from natural rain events turns into roaring flood waters.
The coal removed must be washed which requires construction of huge impoundment ponds which are precariously constructed and in one instance perched a short distance above an elementary school. The ponds contain a toxic slurry of dangerous and carcinogenic metals to include arsenic, mercury, chromium, cadmium, boron, selenium, and nickel.
Every year, coal burning produces over 130 million tons of waste. Most of it is fly ash, which also contains these dangerous metals. A huge containment pond of fly ash gave way on Dec. 22, 2008 releasing over 1.7 million cubic yards of cludge into the Clinch River (Tennessee) valley. It inundated homes and contaminated drinking water supplies.
Fly ash was applied as a “beneficial use” to a golf course in Chesapeake (VA). There are no Federal regulations governing fly ash. Thanks to Dominion Virginia Power bullying there are extremely lax state rules governing fly ash as the golf course was unlined and not water sampling tests were conducted. No shock that area residents would now be suing Dominion for the toxins showing up in their ground water.
From beginning to end, coal is bad news and nothing to be celebrated as Rigell and Golden did last night. They are obviously swallowing hook, line and sinker all the garbage feed to them by the wealthy coal industry lobbyists.
And Bob McDonnell is still nonetheless in denial. 
The 
Jim Hoeft of the 
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