Communities Opposed to New Coal at Hunterston
International Health Issues connected to Coal
The dangers to health posed by coal are not only caused by the burning of coal, but also by its extraction and transport. Coal used by the proposed power station would be bought in from many countries, on the commodities market. Thus what may seem like a purely local issue is actually a major Global Issue.
See also Human Rights, Environment, Coal Mining Accidents and general Links pages.
UK
Douglasdale Coal Health Study (Scotland)
This preliminary report was compiled by Kirstie Stramler, Ph.D. In it, simple analyses performed on publicly available data reveal striking ill-health in people who reside near the Douglas and Dalmellington open-cast coal mines, as compared with aggregated UK health statistics and with a nearby Scottish town upwind from the mines.
Conclusion: The preliminary analysis of disease incidence and mortality indicates that there are significant differences between the baseline health statistics at Prestwick and those in areas, such as Douglasdale and Dalmellington, in which there are open-cast coal mines.
The discrepancy between the low rate of death from cancer that the inhabitants of the greater Clydesdale area exhibit and the high rate of death from cancer in the Douglasdale sub-region of Clydesdale is particularly troubling, as there is little to differentiate these populations from one another, apart from the coal-mining activities.
Douglasdale Community Coal Health Study (pdf)Updated version As above, but contains newly updated information and graphics
See also the Coal Health Study Blog
The Guardian/Observer Online
One of the world's foremost climate experts launches an excoriating attack on Britain's long love affair with the most polluting fossil fuel of all
Coal-fired power stations are death factories.UK Department of Energy and Climage Change
DECC administers two major personal injury compensation schemes, which compensate coalminers and their families for health problems caused by working underground in mines operated by British Coal.
The schemes were set up to deal with:
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respiratory disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema) resulting from the dusty conditions
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vibration disease (Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome and Vibration White Finger) caused by using vibrating tools
The schemes are now closed to new claimants.
Background to UK coal health litigationConnection between coal mining and respiratory disease.
Connection between coal mining and Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome
Linked list of publications dealing with coal health compensaton in the UK
Coal health statistics - Headline statistics as at 19 June 2011
Respiratory Disease |
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| Total Claims | 591,768 |
| Live | 240,376 |
| Deceased | 351,392 |
| Claims settled | 591,751 |
| Total Compensation paid | £2.37 billion |
VWF (vibration white finger) |
|
| Total Claims | 169,611 |
| Live | 144,888 |
| Deceased | 24,723 |
| Claims settled | 169,611 |
| Total Compensation paid | £1.7 billion |
AUSTRALIA
Australian Greens
Coal is an organic, combustible sedimentary rock that also contains minerals and inorganic material, within the organic matter. The compressed organic matter laid down in typically saline inland sea basins or swamps millions of years ago, is interspersed with finely weathered rock material, known as shale. The heaviest metals accumulate in the coal and shale strata because their densities and electronic charge mean they tend to concentrate in depositional environments. Coal and coal shales therefore concentrate and accumulate the heaviest of metals, amongst other elements, most of which are bio-toxic and some of which are also radioactive.
Coal is toxicMedical Journal of Australia
Summary of study:
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Australia’s coal conundrum is that all political parties say they are concerned about climate change while sanctioning an unprecedented expansion of coalmining and coal seam gas extraction in Australia.
Australia’s coal contributes to climate change and its global health impacts.
Each phase of coal’s lifecycle (mining, disposal of contaminated water and tailings, transportation, washing, combustion, and disposing of postcombustion wastes) produces pollutants that affect human health.
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Communities in which coalmining or burning occurs have been shown to suffer significant health impacts.
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The health and climate costs of coal are unseen, and when costs to health systems are included, coal is an expensive fuel.
Wide Bay Greens (Australia)
“33% of children get asthma 1 mile from an opencast (proved by peakflow measurements etc).
At 2 miles, 21% of children developed asthma and 12% at 3 miles. ”
According to Hendryx, as coal production increases, so does the incidence of chronic illness. Coal-processing chemicals, equipment powered by diesel engines, explosives, toxic impurities in coals, and even dust from uncovered coal trucks can cause environmental pollution that could have a negative affect on public health.
The data show that people in coal mining communities
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have a 70%t increased risk for developing kidney disease.
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have a 64% increased risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema.
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are 30% more likely to report high blood pressure (hypertension).
CANADA
Clean Air Alliance
Burning coal produces smog and harms our health. The Ontario Medical Association estimates that air pollution costs Ontario more than $10 billion per year in health care costs, lost work time and other quantifiable expenses, as well as killing an estimated 2,000 Ontarians each year.
Coal Power must goCHINA
Coal drive will not end health risks
A new report (Aug 2010) says huge rates of coal consumption were a factor behind an increase in cancer and birth defects as well as non-specific and chronic nervous, immune and respiratory illnesses.
The report said huge rates of coal consumption were a factor behind an increase in cancer and birth defects as well as non-specific and chronic nervous, immune and respiratory illnesses.
Coal Is Linked to Cancer in Yunnan Province
Nonsmoking women in an area of China’s Yunnan province die of lung cancer at a rate 20 times that of their counterparts in other regions of the country — and higher than anywhere else in the world.
A group of scientists now say they have a possible explanation: the burning of coal formed during volcanic eruptions hundreds of millions of years ago.
Coal in that part of China contains high concentrations of silica, a suspected carcinogen, the scientists reported in a recent edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Children and coal don't mix
Children born after the closure of a coal-burning plant in China had 60 percent fewer developmental problems, a study released Monday suggests, giving ammunition to those who argue the country should embrace cleaner sources of energy.
The study in the peer-reviewed Environmental Health Perspectives journal found that after the coal plant was shut in the midwestern city of Tongliang, pregnant mothers living in the area had far less exposure to pollutants and their children showed significantly fewer delays in developing motor skills such as muscle coordination by the age of 2.
Pneumoconiosis
It is estimated that a total of 57,000 coal miners in China suffer from pneumoconiosis, an occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of dust, each year and more than 6,000 people die due to pneumoconiosis.
57,000 Chinese coal miners suffer from lung disease annually Source: People's Daily, Nov 2010INDIA
The Guardian/Observer Online
Observer investigation uncovers link between dramatic rise in birth defects in Punjab and pollution from coal-fired power station
India's generation of children crippled by uranium wasteTHE NETHERLANDS
KEMA Power generation and Sustainables
Employees of coal-fired power stations and people living enarby, as well as those involved in the shipment and processing of coal fly ash can be exposed to pulverised fuel ash (PVA). an extensive research program was carried out in order to ma such exposure and its effects. Particle size distribution, chemical composition, quartz, radioactivity, emission factors and fugitive dust modelling were studied.
Health aspects of coal fly ash (pdf)USA
Alaska Community Action on Toxics
In Alaska, coal‐fired power plants generate tens of thousands of metric tons of waste each year, known as coal combustion wastes, of which a major component is coal ash. Coal ash throughout the nation has been found to contain concerning levels of toxic chemicals that pose serious risks to human health. ...
... At the request of local residents concerned about coal ash contamination, a sampling project was conducted in the Fairbanks area in June 2010. This project aimed to determine the composition of coal ash in the Fairbanks region and whether it may be hazardous to health. Samples of coal ash from local power plants, waste disposal sites and reuse sites were found to contain a range of toxic heavy metals. In almost every case, the levels of toxic chemicals were found to be much higher than background soil samples from Fairbanks. In the coal ash samples, levels of arsenic and vanadium were found at concentrations that may harm human health. Two samples from the University of Alaska Fairbanks coal‐fired power plant show arsenic concentrations more than 100 times higher than the standard for residential soils set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lastly, mercury was found at levels 70 times higher than background soils, and at levels high enough to be a concern if inhaled in the form of windblown dust.
Coal Ash in Alaska: Our Health, Our Right to Know (pdf)Chesapeake Bay News
Apparently-cheap electricity from coal-fired power plants is at least twice as expensive as it seems when the costs of illness and death from air pollution are factored in, according to a new Chesapeake Bay Foundation report. These billions of dollars in health-related costs from coal pollution, if accounted for, would make clean energy, from wind and solar power, more economically competitive.
How Coal-Fired Power Plants Drain Health and WealthClean Air Task Force
Among all industrial sources of air pollution, none poses greater risks to human health and the environment than coal-fired power plants. Emissions from coalfired power plants contribute to global warming, ozone smog, acid rain, regional haze, and — perhaps most consequential of all from a public health standpoint — fine particle pollution.
The Toll from Coal (pdf)Columbia University: Mailman School of Public Health
Closure of Coal-Burning Power Plant in China Directly Linked to Improved Cognitive Development in Children
Study Shows Benefits of Closing Plants on Early Childhood NeurodevelopmentCountry Doctor
“Should named politicians who pass unsafe applications be forced to compensate? ”
Dr Dick van Steenis MB BS
Thirteen years of peer-reviewed research into industrial air pollution (including opencasting) with its consequential health damage of illness and premature deaths.
Coal opencasting and healthDr Robert Bullard
Coal is cheap. Coal is also dirty and pollutes when it is mined, transported to the power plant, stored, and burned. Coal causes smog, soot, acid rain, global warming, and toxic air emissions.The so-called “clean coal” is more myth and PR than reality. The 2004 Dirty Air, Dirty Power report revealed some shocking health impacts of air pollution from power plants: mortality (23.600), hospital admissions (21,850), emergency room visits for asthma (26,000) heart attacks (38,200), chronic bronchitis (16,200) asthma attacks (554,000), and lost work days (3,186,000).
Health Benefits of Dethroning King CoalEnvironmental Defense Fund
In addition to the environmental and human health harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions, coal-fired power plants emit massive amounts of toxic air pollutants that result in significant numbers of deaths and disease.
Estimating the Health Impacts of Coal-Fired Power Plants (pdf)Environmental Leader
If we needed another reason to be concerned about our heavy reliance on “cheap” coal for energy, we could find all we wanted in a recently released report from a team at the Harvard Medical School. “Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal” catalogues virtually all the ways coal affects society, from fires in abandoned mines that burn for decades to the tourism implications of the environmentally devastating mining practice of “mountaintop removal.”
Harvard’s overall price tag for coal? Up to $500 billion. But what really got our attention was the $140 billion to $242 billion cost the report attached to its public health effects.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Access to electricity contributes to good health by powering infrastructure for clean drinking water and sanitation and by reducing the need for indoor burning of coal, wood, and other solid fuels. But these benefits can be offset by health threats posed by the emissions from fossil fuel–based electricity production—direct public health effects attributable to particulate matter, sulfur and nitrous oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, and ozone are estimated to account for more than 70% of the external costs of power generation (i.e., costs not factored into the price paid for electricity)
Public Health Impact of Coal and Electricity Consumption: Risk–Benefit Balance Varies by CountryNational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
The main conclusions are:
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After a long period of declining CWP prevalence, recent surveillance data indicate that the prevalence is rising.
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Coal miners are developing severe CWP at relatively young ages (<50 years).
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There is some indication that early development of CWP is being manifested as premature mortality.
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The above individuals would have been employed all of their working lives in environmental conditions mandated by the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act.
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The increase in CWP occurrence appears to be concentrated in hot spots of disease mostly concentrated in the central Appalachian region of southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and western Virginia.
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The cause of this resurgence in disease is likely multifactorial. Possible explanations include excessive exposure due to increases in coal mine dust levels and duration of exposure (longer working hours), and increases in crystalline silica exposure (see below). As indicated by data on disease prevalence and severity, workers in smaller mines may be at special risk.
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Given that the more productive seams of coal are being mined out, a transition by the industry to mining thinner coal seams and those with more rock intrusions is taking place and will likely accelerate in the future. Concomitant with this is the likelihood of increased potential for exposure to crystalline silica, and associated increased risk of silicosis, in coal mining.
National Resources Defense Council
Coal-fired power plants threaten the environment and our health.
Burning coal pollutes the air we breathe and pollutes the water we drink.
New York Academy of Sciences
Each stage in the life cycle of coal—extraction, transport, processing, and combustion—generates a waste stream and carries multiple hazards for health and the environment. These costs are external to the coal industry and are thus often considered “externalities.” We estimate that the life cycle effects of coal and the waste stream generated are costing the U.S. public a third to over one-half of a trillion dollars annually. Many of these so-called externalities are, moreover, cumulative. Accounting for the damages conservatively doubles to triples the price of electricity from coal per kWh generated, making wind, solar, and other forms of nonfossil fuel power generation, along with investments in efficiency and electricity conservation methods, economically competitive. We focus on Appalachia, though coal is mined in other regions of the United States and is burned throughout the world. February 2011
Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal (purchasable pdf or html full report)Physicians for Social Responsibility (USA)
Coal ash – the waste material left after coal is burned – contains arsenic, mercury, lead, and over a dozen other heavy metals, many of them toxic. And disposal of the growing mounds of coal ash is creating grave risks to human health.
Toxic constituents of coal ash are blowing, spilling and leaching from storage units into air, land and human drinking water, posing an acute risk of cancer and neurological effects as well as many other negative health impacts: heart damage, lung disease, kidney disease, reproductive problems, gastrointestinal illness, birth defects, and impaired bone growth in children.
Coal pollutants affect all major body organ systems and contribute to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the US: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Each step of the coal lifecycle—mining, transportation, washing, combustion, and disposing of postcombustion wastes—impacts human health. Coal combustion in particular contributes to diseases affecting large portions of the population, including asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke, compounding the major public health challenges of our time. It interferes with lung development, increases the risk of heart attacks, and compromises intellectual capacity.
Coal's Assault on Human Health (executive summary, pdf)Coal plants remain the single largest source of sulfur dioxide, mercury and air toxic emissions and the second largest source of nitrogen oxide pollution. Moreover, once emitted, these pollutants combine to form 'secondary pollutants' such as ozone and particulate matter that pose an equally significant threat to public health.
Coal-Fired Power Plants: Understanding the Health Costs of a Dirty Energy Source (pdf)Public News Service (USA)
A study released in October 2010 takes aim at two coal-fired electricity generation plants in Chicago as the source of dirty air that is resulting in millions being spent on health care and related damage. The Environmental Law and Policy Center says the price tag is about $127 million a year, and could be as high as $1 billion since 2002.
Chicago Coal Plants Costing a Bundle in HealthcareFull report from the Environmental Law and Policy Center (pdf)
The Public Cost of Pollution from Coal Plants in the Chicago Area
Reproductive Health Reality Check
Deborah Payne, Energy and Health Coordinator of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation calls coal mining “one piece of the birth defect puzzle” and says that at every stage, coal is problematic, from its extraction, to its processing, transport, and eventual burning. “At each step there are negative health consequences for adults, children, and fetal life,”
Mountaintop Coal Mining Leads to Birth Defects, Respiratory Illness and Other Health ProblemsScientific American
Strange but true: by burning away all the pesky carbon and other impurities, coal power plants produce heaps of radiation
Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear WasteUnion of Concerned Scientists
Environmental impact of coal power
Air pollutionWastes generated
West Virginia Gazette
Research study by Dr Michael Hendryx, of the Department of Community Medicine, Institute for Health Policy Research, West Virginia University, and Dr Melissa M. Ahern, of the Department of Pharmacotherapy, Washington State University, Spokane, WA
Objectives: We examined elevated mortality rates in Appalachian coal mining areas for 1979–2005, and estimated the corresponding value of statistical life (VSL) lost relative to the economic benefits of the coal mining industry.
Conclusions: Research priorities to reduce Appalachian health disparities should focus on reducing disparities in the coalfields. The human cost of the Appalachian coal mining economy outweighs its economic benefits.
Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions (pdf)West Virginia University: Department of Community Medicine
...Results demonstrate that lung cancer mortality for the years 2000-2004 is higher in areas of heavy Appalachian coal mining after adjustments for smoking, poverty, education, age, sex, race and other covariates. Higher mortality may be the result of exposure to environmental contaminates associated with the coal mining industry, although smoking and poverty are also contributing factors. The knowledge of the geographic areas within Appalachia where lung cancer mortality is higher can be used to target programmatic and policy interventions. The set of socioeconomic and health inequalities characteristic of coal mining areas of Appalachia highlights the need to develop more diverse, alternative local economies.
Lung Cancer Mortality Is Elevated in Coal Mining Areas of Appalachia (pdf)
