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Excluding contained waste and unintentional releases from nuclear plants, coal-plants carry more radioactive wastes into the environment than nuclear plants per unit of produced energy. Plant-emitted radiation carried by coal-derived fly ash delivers 100 times more radiation to the surrounding environment than does the normal operation of a ...
The environmental factors of the coal industry are not only impacting air pollution, water management and land use but also is causing severe health effects by the burning of the coal. Air pollution is increasing in numbers of toxins such as mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other heavy metals. [93]
The coal mining industry has a long history of significant negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems, health impacts on local communities and workers, and contributes heavily to the global environmental crises, such as poor air quality and climate change.
This can affect the flows of rivers, and has consequential impacts on other land uses. In areas of water scarcity, such as the Thar Desert in Pakistan, coal mining and coal power plants contribute to the depletion of water resources. [146] One of the earliest known impacts of coal on the water cycle was acid rain.
Coal refuse, also known as coal waste, rock, slag, coal tailings, waste material, rock bank, culm, boney, or gob, is the material left over from coal mining, usually as tailings piles or spoil tips. For every tonne of hard coal generated by mining, 400 kg (880 lb) of waste material remains, which includes some lost coal that is partially ...
Pages in category "Environmental impact of the coal industry" ... Health effects of coal ash; K. Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
Mountaintop removal coal mining in Martin County, Kentucky Strip mining in Barnesville, Ohio. Environmental justice and coal mining in Appalachia is the study of environmental justice – the interdisciplinary body of social science literature studying theories of the environment and justice; environmental laws, policies, and their implementations and enforcement; development and ...
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. SMCRA created two programs: one for regulating active coal mines and a second for reclaiming abandoned mine lands.