Chris Hamilton, president/CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association, recently submitted an opinion piece about the benefits and economy of coal fired power plants to The West Virginia Record with the headline “Stay with coal.”
In the op-ed, Hamilton tries to outline benefits of coal fired power plants with reliability and retail economy arguments. However, one website shows West Virginia is listed in the highest 10 states for consumer electrical costs (16.3 cents/kWh). It also shows Kentucky is 13.3 cents, Pennsylvania is 18.4 cents and Utah is the lowest at 11.4 cents.
Mining coal is no dreamboat for the State of West Virginia. In fact, it has turned into an environmental shipwreck for many reasons.
Barrat
| Courtesy photo
Using fossil fuels as an energy source for electricity has done immeasurable damage to the environment no matter what state or country you live in. In the extraction phase, digging coal leaves dangerous deep mines (some of which cause mine subsidence), strip mines that are unsightly and workers with breathing problems known as occupational pneumoconiosis or black lung.
After at least 100 years of commercial coal mining in West Virginia, a black lung benefit program for miners and retirees is still being opposed. Open mine shafts are dangerous, and there are hundreds of Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) in West Virginia. They can leak mine run-off and cause other problems. More than 20,000 miners have died in West Virginia coal mines since 1883.
Sadly, there are even more problems. In the conversion phase, burning coal for electricity causes incredible environmental damage, releasing CO2 and other chemicals and warming the planet. The year 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record after an extended streak of exceptionally high monthly global mean temperatures, according to a World Meteorological Organization article from November 2024.
Extreme weather, temperature rise, coastal flooding from sea level rise and glacial melting all are coming together to create an apocalypse worse than any Hollywood movie ever achieved.
While probably meaning well, Mr. Hamilton avoids discussion of environmental issues in his op-ed “Stay with Coal.” Coal for electricity generation has become an antiquated energy source whose time is over, and “clean coal” is a fantasy.
Many of the costs of burning coal are passed on from coal operators to state agencies and consumers long after the coal companies move on. In recent news, Los Angeles County is on fire, no doubt from global warming and climate change.
The answer is to quickly move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy that doesn’t heat the world the way burning coal does.
Other states are taking the lead on this initiative. California, Arizona, Texas and Florida are some of the solar power leaders. Texas, California, Iowa and Oklahoma are some current wind power leaders.
Solar and wind power sources are looking better each day and are providing jobs for a clean and a renewable power supply. The State of West Virginia should encourage and promote solar panels, wind farms, well-insulated homes and businesses and green engineering all around before the time to do so has run out.
Barrat is an attorney in Martinsburg. He can be reached at Robertebarrat@gmail.com.