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  • Essay / Coal Mining: The Benefits of Cleaner Coal Production

    Coal Mining: Can Sanitation Be the New Green? While trying to choose a topic for my response paper, I came across the article on the SEED magazine website titled “The Lesser Evil.” : Nuclear or Coal? Because I live not only in a mining town, but also in a county that would no longer exist without the coal industry, I not only wanted to see what exactly was so "bad" about coal, but also how to make it safer. With global warming, acid rain, and other issues currently emerging, I have primarily focused on the effect of coal mining on the environment. Environmental effects related to coal mining include the release of carbon dioxide and methane, both of which contribute to the greenhouse effect. Hazardous gases are released not only when coal is burned, but also when pockets of gas are released during mining. Soil and groundwater are also damaged when acidic runoff flows underground and into water sources and changes pH levels. When the water table is changed, the soil can become infertile. Lack of vegetation can cause erosion and harm the chances of ever having agricultural biodiversity. When the pH of the water changes, aquatic life can also die. Mining not only changes water pH, but can also include drainage or contamination of usable groundwater. The SEED Magazine article highlighted the fact that research is currently underway that could help make mining clean. Mining would be cleaner as the emissions would not be so harmful to the environment. As I dug deeper, I discovered there were many ideas on how to make coal energy better for the environment. Wikipedia gave some e...... middle of paper ...... last statement. I don't see why we should just abandon what we already know about coal as an energy source and start completely over with something new that, in twenty years, could bring us back to a situation like the one we're in. currently found. Who knows what effects nuclear power, if it is the next step, might have on the environment or what emissions it might produce in the future. I have now learned about the so-called "evil" in coal mining, but I have also seen that there are ways to give coal a better future prospect. I just hope more effort is put into clean coal mining before people abandon this source. Given that there are several options for making coal production and use cleaner, I believe it is still possible to help make coal the new green option while cleaning up the environment..