Coal: The Deadly Option

Coal still has advocates despite all of its faults, damage to health and the environment; people pushing the positive reasons that the coal should and needs to be an option if not the main one. One major reason that advocates push for the use of coal is energy policy. “America’s reserves account for 35% of the world’s known recoverable coal, the largest total of any single nation (Coal Supply). The energy policy or the administrations desire for energy independence has pushed coal to the forefront as the fuel that will give us this goal. Given the sheer volume that the United States has some say ask why should it not be used? They favor coal so the United States is not dependent on a volatile Middle East for as much fossil fuels. If coal were not in use to produce electricity “we would have had to import the energy equivalent of an additional 10 million barrels of oil a day” (Fact Sheet). What is not mentioned is how nuclear power could be used to make up the difference causing much less pollution at around the same price, also with fewer deaths. Another over touted virtue of coal is its reliability as a source. “At current production levels, proven coal reserves are estimated to last 147 years” (Coal Facts 2007). This figure is wrong, much of this supposed available coal is not economically viable to use. The last supposed virtue of coal is that it is cheap. Coal is the least expensive fossil fuel and the least expensive way to create electricity in the world. But given its environmental and health impacts, is it truly or are the costs just somewhere else maybe not in cents per kilowatt but through the health of our people and our planet? Nuclear power is much safer and ready to take coal’s place as our electricity provider. Not only does it improve the health of the environment and humans it does an enormous amount to halt global warming due to its low CO2 output.

The use of coal and the increase in its use must stop due to its impacts on the environment, people, and our planet as a whole. As anyone can see coal is not a viable option its cost are too great and its benefits too little. Nuclear power should be used instead due to it being the practical opposite of coal. Nuclear power is clean and as a result friendly to the environment, people, and our planet. Some talk of clean coal but in all truth there is no such thing and to believe so is ludicrous. Coal is a destroyer of our people, environment, and planet and despite its virtues of energy independence, reliability, and cheapness it is not and should not be considered a viable option for the future of mankind. It is and should always be regarded as a relic of mankind’s past.