Energy Production Issues: Introduction
A major concern related to the use of coal for electricity production is the release of elements to the environment, both during combustion and from the resulting coal combustion products (CCPs). Health problems caused by coal are derived from either the use of poor quality coal (high ash, high sulfur, or high content of toxic trace elements) or by the improper use of coal. When poor quality coal is used in an improper way the resultant health problems can be widespread and severe.
In millions of houses in many developing countries coal and other biomass fuels are burned in unvented stoves causing severe indoor air pollution. In Guizhou Province, southwest China, the situation is exacerbated by the use of coal that has concentrated toxic elements to an extraordinary degree. Thousands of people in this region are suffering from severe arsenic poisoning. The primary source of the arsenic appears to be consumption of chili peppers dried over fires fueled with high-arsenic coal. Coal samples in the region were found to contain up to 35,000 ppm arsenic. Chili peppers dried over high-arsenic coal fires adsorb 500 ppm arsenic on average. More than 10 million people in Guizhou Province and surrounding areas suffer from dental and skeletal fluorosis. The excess fluorine is due to eating corn dried over burning briquettes made from high-fluorine coals and high-fluorine clay binders.
An unusual situation exists in the Balkans where there may be health problems caused by coal in the ground. Well waters containing nitrogenated and aromatic amines and other hydrocarbons leached from low-rank coals may be the cause of, or a contributing factor of, Balkan Endemic Nephropathy, an interstitial nephropathy, that is believed to have killed more than 100,000 people in Yugoslavia alone. Investigation is underway to determine if BEN-like situations exist in other parts of the world where lignite deposits occur, including the USA.
Not all of the allegations of health problems caused by coal are legitimate. Concerns expressed about exposure to radioactivity from coal and coal combustion products are misplaced. The products of commercial coal combustion (fly ash, bottom ash) do have uranium and thorium concentrations about 5-10 times higher than that of the coal. But the uranium and thorium in the coal byproducts should not cause concern because they are mostly in insoluble forms at concentration levels similar to most soils.
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
