A Long Row To Hoe
Posted on May 9, 2008 | By Denny Tyler | 5 Comments
I have to tell you about a discussion I was wrangled into yesterday concerning mountaintop removal coal mining.
A close relative read my post entitled Clean, Carbon Neutral Coal? the first thing they wanted to know is why I was trying to stop all coal mining. Somehow this is where I get taken wrong. I personally have no problem with deep mining for the twenty-eleventh time. My problem is not taking the coal – it is destroying everything in your path to get it. In my eyes there is no justification for the level of destruction caused by mountaintop removal coal mining – be it jobs or energy.
The person asked me then why do I talk about global warming? That is because coal is a large contributor to global warming or even if you don’t believe in global warming, coal is just a large polluter period. From the cradle to the grave as some say. The reason I talk about global warming is if I can’t get you to see how devastating mountaintop removal is all by it lonesome then I have to also show you where a lot of that coal is going as fuel. Which is two places in this case, fuel for coal-fired power plants and fuel for the global warming debate. Because coal is mainly carbon.
This is where I found myself at a loss for words in the discussion. This person didn’t know whether coal was carbon or not. They are otherwise pretty intelligent so I was a little shocked the discussion had turned to whether or not coal had carbon in it. I guess I have been going under the assumption that one of the most basic fundamentals about coal was a well known fact. Even after reading my post where I actually have very little to say but quote a few sources telling the reader exactly what coal is, they said they weren’t convinced. I didn’t know what to tell them after that. The most proving quote was the one that says “the word carbon comes from the Latin term carbo meaning coal.”
Bituminous coal is the coal mined in the hills of Appalachia and is also the most abundant form of coal. It is 69% to 86% carbon by weight. The BTU value of coal is judged mainly by the carbon content – the higher the carbon content the higher the BTU. The very fact we burn coal to begin with is because of the heat it generates when burning. Or in other words, the BTU output of the coal.
I would hope the discussion with this person was a rare event. If someone does not believe or is not yet convinced that coal is mostly carbon then that same person will also not understand why in talking about mountaintop removal you will inevitably talk about global warming or at the very least CO2 emissions. Coal is the common denominator and mountaintop removal feeds a lot of coal-fired power plants which in turn produce large amounts of CO2 gasses – the primary greenhouse gas.
One of the last statements I always seem to get in these discussions – you’ll never stop it. My answer to that – I never for a second thought I would. I think for the most part mountaintop removal is like a runaway train, if the brakes were slammed on right now it would take it five years to stop. I firmly believe people just need to look at mountaintop removal coal mining and see for themselves what is wrong about it. I still have a little faith in overall humanity and with enough people looking maybe I can get one or two to look a little closer.
I sincerely hope in discussing mountaintop removal I don’t have to convince you that coal is mostly carbon. If I do, this is indeed going to be a long row to hoe.
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This is just an FYI and totally unrelated to this post. This blog’s layout will be changing to include two sidebars. We have some pretty cool ventures coming up and adding the second sidebar allows for more information to be displayed permanently.
Our remnants of wilderness will yield bigger values to the nation’s character and health than they will to its pocketbook, and to destroy them will be to admit that the latter are the only values that interest us. – Aldo Leopold
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May 9th, 2008 @ 6:15 pm
Excellent post Denny. There are all kinds of problems with the complete cycle of coal, from the extraction, to the processing, to the burning, but I agree, all one has to do is to see the disapperance of our mountains, and that alone is enough reason to make one sick to the stomach about coal. Great job Denny, keep on blogging.
May 9th, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
Oh, can’t wait to see the new updates comming.
May 10th, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
that’s pretty scary… that they are arguing a basic scientific fact.
and the new lay-out looks great!
May 10th, 2008 @ 4:04 pm
looks great.
denny, do you score this as a victory? do you feel like you educated your family in a way that made them consider their assumtpions? how did the issue of coal being carbon based change their views about the other issues?
May 11th, 2008 @ 12:50 am
Thanks all…
Folk – the discussion with this particular relative is no doubt going to be ongoing. I haven’t convinced them of anything.