Policy Solutions

All Policy Documents Tagged coal

Limit to Producing "Cheap" Coal Makes Liquid Coal Plans Unworkable

Fact Sheet

While the coal industry has been aggressively promoting the development of a large liquid coal industry in the United States, it is unrealistic to expect that customers could be supplied with domestic coal at reasonable prices. According to the most recent Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook report, if the liquid coal industry grew to the size proposed by industry lobbyists, the United States would have to import coal beginning in just six years. The increased demand created by a liquid coal industry could raise electricity rates as well as increase emissions of global warming pollution, bringing costs that far outweigh the benefits that would come from a large domestic liquid coal industry. Get document in pdf.

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Destroys Communities

Fact Sheet

Mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining is one of the world’s most destructive practices for extracting fossil fuels. This extreme method of strip mining is scarring the landscape and threatening communities. All across Central Appalachia -- between the hollows of West Virginia, bordering the Blue Ridge of Virginia, beyond the bluegrass of Kentucky, and above the smoky vistas of Tennessee -- companies are tearing down mountains to access the coal below. In the process they are clear-cutting miles of forests, filling the rivers with coal mining waste, polluting the waters with toxic runoff, and sacrificing the safety of the people who call this region home. MTR coal mining sites, which can exceed 10 square miles, have already leveled more than 470 summits so far. Get document in pdf.

There Is No Such Thing as "Clean Coal"
Coal Mining Can Have Disastrous Impacts on Human Health and the Environment

Fact Sheet

Coal mining has serious impacts on our health and the environment. Clean energy options such as energy efficiency can meet energy demands without the dangerous effects of coal. Get document in pdf.

Coal Is Hazardous to Your Health
Coal-fired power plants threaten the environment and your health.

Index

Burning coal releases enormous amounts of harmful pollutants into the air and water, with serious health consequences. Waste generated by coal-fired power plants contains hazardous pollutants that can contaminate our drinking water and cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems. This index of fact sheets describes the health hazards of our continued reliance on coal.

Dangerous Disposals
Keeping Coal Combustion Waste Out of Our Water Supply

Fact Sheet

Coal combustion waste released as pollution by power plants can make drinking water in nearby communities unsafe. Stronger protections are needed to regulate this waste, and to ensure that more polluting power plants are not needed. Get document in pdf.

Accelerating the Greening of China
Promoting Cutting-edge Environmental Solutions in China

Index

In the past three decades, China's explosive growth has resulted in serious environmental problems with impacts beyond China's borders. NRDC is working with key Chinese government agencies, research institutes, lawyers and environmental groups to help promote cutting-edge environmental solutions in China. These factsheets describe NRDC's work to help address some of China's most pressing environmental challenges.

Testimony on Coal Gasification

Testimony

Testimony of Antonia Herzog, Staff Scientist, Climate Center, before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate on May 24, 2007.

Coal in a Changing Climate
This index collects policy documents about the implications of the world's reliance on coal.

Index

This index collects policy documents about the implications of the world's reliance on coal.

Hearing on Future Options for Generation of Electricity from Coal
June 24, 2003

Testimony

Presented before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, by David Hawkins, director of NRDC's climate center, on June 24, 2003.

Slower, Costlier and Dirtier
A Critique of the Bush Energy Plan

Report

This May 2001 NRDC report is an extensive analysis of the Bush administration energy plan that was released on May 17. NRDC's energy experts found it heavily biased in favor of the most polluting fossil fuels -- coal and oil -- at the expense of the environment and public health. Furthermore, the plan would have no impact on energy prices, and no practical effect on U.S. dependence on foreign sources of oil. The fact is that the United States can meet its energy needs without undermining environmental safeguards or ruining the last remaining pristine wilderness areas in the country.

Drawdown: Groundwater Mining on Black Mesa

Report

For more than 40 years, Peabody Western Coal Company has been draining billions of gallons of potable, pristine groundwater from an aquifer under the Black Mesa plateau in Arizona -- water that serves as the primary source of drinking water for the area’s Hopi and Navajo residents. In 2000, NRDC published an assessment of the damage caused by this groundwater mining and determined that the Navajo aquifer showed signs of serious decline after years of pumping by Peabody. This 2006 update to the original report concludes that material damage is still present in Black Mesa and that the aquifer shows signs of continuing damage and deterioration. NRDC also considers the role of the federal government in addressing the damage and recommends actions that would help conserve Black Mesa's water supply.