Coal and Water News

A new assessment of black lung disease by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a higher than expected rate of the disease among workers on surface mine operations. The occurrence of the disease is higher in Central Appalachian states, including Kentucky.

Compared with poisoned water, elevated rates of cancer and birth defects, floods, blasting, ubiquitous dust, close encounters with coal trucks, poverty and the knowledge that anyone who protests the abuses is taking a personal risk … ask Marie Gunnoe, or the delegation of Kentuckians shut out from meeting with U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers.

It's the job of federal and state regulators to ensure that coal is mined safely and in a way that doesn’t do violence to the environment. The U.S. EPA has shown some concern about the environment, concerns that Kentucky officials apparently do not share. And mine safety laws and their enforcement continue to fall short of what is needed to protect miners' lives.

A video released by the Earth System Research Laboratory, brought to our attention by Jim Bruggers and his Watchdog Earth blog, offers a visual depiction of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from 800,000 years ago to 2011.

This video illustrates the alarming trend in carbon dioxide emissions in the recent past. In pre-industrial society, our atmospheric CO2 was about 278 parts per million (ppm). But from 1979 to 2011 alone, carbon dioxide has gone from 336 to 391 ppm. Since the video was produced, CO2 levels have continued to climb and are now near 400 ppm on average worldwide, and have exceeded that level in the Arctic region.