what's not wrong with coal?

Papers and papers show why using coal is unsustainable. Worse than nuclear power, natural gas even petroleum, the mining and burning of coal is an environmental disaster blah, blah, it's evil, the rock of the devil, blah blah.
Such points are one thing in a paper, they are something else in reality. Let's look at the recent environmental disaster courtesy of that enemy of the human race in Tennessee, where over 50-million tons of coal fly ash spilled into Tennessean waterways, creating an ecological nightmare for not just the flora and fauna of this area, but also the people that live here. For many years, their water will still be contaminated, their land values will decline, and life will never be the same.

How could this happen? Coal plants are put aside waterways to use water to create steam, spin turbines etc. And at each of these coal plants, huge ash piles from burning this evil substance are created. The one in Tennessee is 40-acres in size. Now, we all should ask, what is being done to keep this from happening else where? I live in Pennsylvania, coal has been part of the state's economy since the 18th century. There are several mines and thus many coal fired power plants, with their accompanying coal slurry ponds. Only when the world stops burning coal, as in not burning it any way shape or form, will these slurry ponds no longer be an environmental threat. That day cannot come soon enough.

In time, sooner rather than later, using coal must stop, it is unsustainable, not just because it is a foul, evil substance that asks so much more of us, our health, our livelihoods, our environment, than it gives us, "cheap" electricity, material for cinder blocks, and some industrial by products, one day we will run out. Yes, run out. And oh yes it might be over 100-years from now, well 100-years from now people will still want electricity, but they will still need clean air, soil and water. New technology to make "clean coal" is not the key, it is a PR-ploy by the coal industry well supported by their lobbyists on K-street.

Here's hoping under the new atmosphere of change in the U.S. and abroad, no longer will we burn coal. The cleanest coal is that which remains in the Earth, where it belongs, buried and dead like the dinosaurs and ancient plant matter it was created from.

This is not a treehugger, or lefty issue, this is a global issue affecting everyone. No matter the color of your skin, language you speak, the religious symbols you worship (or do not) or you call yourself liberal, conservative, fascist or socialist, every human needs clean air, soil, and water. The three things the burning coal is a threat of, thus a threat to humanity.

For more:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/tennessee-coal-ash-slurry-spill-48-times-bigger-than-exxon-valdez-spill.php

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/aftermath-tva-coal-ash-spill-get-ticket-for-water-samples-video.php

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/releases2/greenpeace-calls-for-criminal