Coal kills

I have always admired those who have risked their lives and health to work in coal mines. I expect that they never did so out of choice but out of necessity. Working in mines is very dangerous and working with coal is very dangerous. There are dangers underground, dangers in the pollution and emissions of coal burning and there are also dangers in disposing of the waste produced by coal mines.

The by-products of burning coal

I have written about the copious amounts of carbon dioxide that coal fired power stations push into the air – far greater amounts per unit of electrical energy than any other form of electrical generation. However, the coal pollution is not limited to carbon dioxide, which warms up our planet. There are other dangerous by products of coal burning.