Coal companies have created at least 6, fills to hold their mining wastes, and the government estimates that if this mining continues unabated in Appalachia it will destroy 1. The River provides drinking water topeople and flows into Pittsburgh.
These dust particles can cause all kinds of health problems for humans who are exposed to it. InUS coal power plants emitted more than 1. CCS technology could potentially play an important role in transitioning to a clean energy future, if significant cost, technical, legal and environmental challenges can be overcome.
These toxic metals can accumulate in human and animal tissue and cause serious health problems, including mental retardation, developmental disorders, and damage to the nervous system. EPA records indicate power plant landfills and other disposal practices have polluted groundwater in more than a dozen states, while a EPA report suggested that people living near some power plant landfills faced a cancer risk 2, times higher than federal health standards.
A EPA report cited 67 cases in the United States of damage to ground or surface water from coal-combustion products. On June 17,in a petition presented to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, a coalition of environmental groups called for new controls over coal mine air pollution.