Coal powerplants ‘clean up’ by unloading tons of waste into drinking water

The reality is that coal power plants create toxic waste. And with so many people focused on cleaning up the air we breathe, roiling black smoke is pretty unpopular. So what are coal companies doing to ‘clean up’? They’re installing scrubbers to clean emissions before they enter the atmosphere. That sounds good so far, but there’s a cost.

For the scrubbers to operate effectively they require an ongoing supply of chemicals which allow them to capture emissions. The byproducts created after those chemicals are used has to go somewhere and usually nearby waterways are the target. That’s convenient for the coal power company, but not so convenient for residents using those waterways for drinking water.

It’s no surprise that “. . . power plants are the nation’s biggest producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic and paint manufacturing and chemical plants,” according to The New York Times. After all, most humans use electricity constantly all day, every day. It’s one of the primary differences between living in modern society versus living off the land. Electricity enables us to conduct business at night and is a fundamental piece of countless technologies built upon it.

Given our reliance on electricity, the cheaper it is the happier people generally are. That desire for a good price gives coal power plants an edge because for the time being it’s their specialty. It’s hard for some other forms of power generation – wind and solar for example - to approach the economics coal power provides.

Adding to the confusion is a lackadaisical set of regulations regarding acceptable levels of toxins that can be dumped into our waterways. Federal regulations have met with resistance from states who may in some cases be protecting sources of revenue. Energy executives are often at the doorstep of lawmakers as well, convincing them of the need to dump wastewater somewhere.

This sort of balancing game is often what has plagued the clean coal movement, which is primarily focused on carbon sequestration as well. The difficulty with coal power is and likely always will be the generation of waste – it has to be dumped or stored somewhere and right now that’s shifting to our waterways.