Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future

Is the earth about ready to ecologically bite the big one via coal-caused global warming, or is this whole thing blown out of proportion? I don't know; but I think we should play it safe and listen to Jeff Goodell. I might not agree with his liberal politics, but I do respect the study he has done on `Big Coal', which is full of fascinating and scary stats and observations. According to Goodell, each American indirectly causes 20 tons of CO2 to spew out into the air each year! Also, the U.S. is known as the `Saudi Arabia of Coal', containing fully a quarter of the earth's coal supply, and consuming over a billion tons a year! Some coal trains are a mile-long! The last nuclear plant went on-line over 30 years ago because of the problem of what to do with nuclear waste.He says the earth's ecology is at the tipping point of some serious global warming because of `Big Coal'. He says that we've already raised the average temperature one degree farenheit and are well on the way to a 3.5 degrees increase which will start a catastrophic series of events in nature that we don't even want to think about. He says that it would overall, society-wide, be cheaper to clean-up the coal emissions rather than pay for the health problems the dirty air causes.The strange thing is that the coal issue is not even talked about very much, probably because most of us are so far removed from coal excavation or plants. Goodell said he had not even seen a piece of coal until he was 41 (presumably while writing this book.). By the way, I used to see coal as a kid because we had a coal furnace, but haven't seen any since. You could see lumps in the street also.All of this reminds me a little of Y2K. Nobody got excited about it until it was almost too late. Then there was a all-out (and successful) effort to avert massive computer problems.Now I think it's time to do something about the coal situation before it is too late. Is Goodell an alarmist or a realist? I hope he's only the former, but fear he is also the latter.

Goodell is an excellent writer, and the reporting contained in Big Coal could not be more timely. He has written the right book at the right time. The world of the coal industry is a bit like coal itself: it is buried--but not in the ground. Rather, it is covered by a thick layer of propaganda and public ignorance. Goodell unearths the unpleasant truths about coal mining, coal power, and the shady political game that both of these industries play. This is not so much a polemic, but simply a great piece of journalism. There are scores of fascinating personalities and memorable scenes. The book also achieves a remarkable overall synthesis. I could hardly put it down, and I think that if anyone was going to reveal the coal industry for what it is, Jeff Goodell was the one for the job.

Jeff Goodall does a spectacular job of explaining the effects of coal on real people's lives. Although a journalist, and not specifically a scientist, he does a thorough and professional job of unearthing startling facts about Big Coal and debunking myths. He spent years researching his subject and has done an superlative job in laying out the facts in an accessible and honest way. For anyone who has questions about the effects of Big Coal on America and the world, and wants the facts told with heart and intelligence, this is the one to read.

Although this was in my library for some time, I decided to read it now due to the mining accidents in Utah and China. I was hoping it might shed some light on why the number of mining accidents seems to be increasing, which it did. It also provided a host of other information about coal and the companies that mine and burn coal that was fascinating.From mountain top removal mining, to reverse mining to open pit mining, the author covers how coal is mined in detail. He also looks at the economics of coal in tunneled mines versus strip mines and why West Virginia and surrounding areas are so poorly compensated for the work they do. It was amazing to see the mine operator's comments in Utah on the news, while reading his previous statements that were detailed in the book. It became quite obvious that his interests in the miners trapped in Utah were more economic than true sympathy for the miners or their families.The second section deals with the burning of coal, and why it is so well loved by utilities. Basically, coal burned in older generation plants is a license to print money and the coal and utility companies are fully aware of the damage done, but put profits ahead of anything and everything. Further, the author details the obstructionist techniques used by these companies to keep coal going as a fuel.In the final section, the author details the damage being done by coal to the environment, as well as to humans who live downwind from the plants. He also looks at various solutions that could be employed today to make cola a much cleaner burning fuel and how this would affect the costs of electricity. He also ventures to China to see what they are doing about carbon releases and how we are helping to cause the massive build up of coal fired plants in Chine with our purchasing habits.This is a wonderful book that will answer almost any question you would have about the mining and burning of coal and why we are still using a 19th century fuel in the 21st century. It is very readable and should be read by every individual with a connection to the electric grid. My only complaint is in how the book was foot noted. No foot notes were present in the text, making it hard to line up the text with the notes at the end of the book.

Big Coal is much more balanced about this business that anyone would expect. Having grown up in central Pennsylvanias' soft coal strip mining region I appreciate the vivid descriptions of local and national political machinations of coal mine owners to keep unions out and regulation minimal. The book went into the reasons for so little technological innovation in the large power plant/electrical generation industrial complex. Interesting was several chapters on how railroads manhandle the large utilities with coal deliveries. The coal business gets sucker-punched by the author over its open refusal of global warming while putting propaganda out wrongly influencing both the scientic,educational,local and national political processes. The chapters dedicated to mountaintop mining in West Virginia will sicken the thoughtful while spurring people/rate payers to conserve electrical usage while supporting research on alternatives, ASAP.