page_title: Health and environmental impact of the coal industry
section_title: Air emissions
hierarchical_section_title: Health and environmental impact of the coal industry / Air pollution / Air emissions
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Part de certains polluants provenant de centrales électriques thermiques aux Etats unis, d'après l'EPA (mis à jour 11 fev 2014)English: Graphic showing proportions of air pollution in the Unted States that are generated from power plants.
context_page_description: The health and environmental impact of the coal industry includes issues such as land use, waste management, water and air pollution, caused by the coal mining, processing and the use of its products. In addition to atmospheric pollution, coal burning produces hundreds of millions of tons of solid waste products annually, including fly ash, bottom ash, and flue-gas desulfurization sludge, that contain mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals. Coal is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of CO
  2 in the atmosphere.
  There are severe health effects caused by burning coal. According to a report by the World Health Organization in 2008, coal particulates pollution are estimated to shorten approximately 10,000 lives annually worldwide. A 2004 study commissioned by environmental groups, but contested by the US EPA, concluded that coal burning costs 24,000 lives a year in the United States. More recently, an academic study estimated that the premature deaths from coal related air pollution was about 52,000.
context_section_description: Coal and coal waste products (including fly ash, bottom ash and boiler slag) release approximately 20 toxic-release chemicals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium, beryllium, cadmium, barium, chromium, copper, molybdenum, zinc, selenium and radium, which are dangerous if released into the environment. While these substances are trace impurities, enough coal is burned that significant amounts of these substances are released.
  The Mpumalanga highveld in South Africa is the most polluted area in the world due to the mining industry and coal plant power stations and the lowveld near the famous Kruger Park is under threat of new mine projects as well.
  During combustion, the reaction between coal and the air produces oxides of carbon, including carbon dioxide (CO₂, an important greenhouse gas), oxides of sulfur (mainly sulfur dioxide, SO₂), and various oxides of nitrogen (NOₓ). Because of the hydrogenous and nitrogenous components of coal, hydrides and nitrides of carbon and sulfur are also produced during the combustion of coal in air. These include hydrogen cyanide (HCN), sulfur nitrate (SNO₃) and other toxic substances.
  SO₂ and nitrogen oxide react in the atmosphere to form fine particles and ground-level ozone and are transported long distances, making it difficult for other states to achieve healthy levels of pollution control.
  The wet cooling towers used in coal-fired power stations, etc. emit drift and fog which are also an environmental concern. The drift contains Respirable suspended particulate matter. In case of cooling towers with sea water makeup, sodium salts are deposited on nearby lands which would convert the land into alkali soil, reducing the fertility of vegetative lands and also cause corrosion of nearby structures.
  Fires sometimes occur in coal beds underground. When coal beds are exposed, the fire risk is increased. Weathered coal can also increase ground temperatures if it is left on the surface. Almost all fires in solid coal are ignited by surface fires caused by people or lightning. Spontaneous combustion is caused when coal oxidizes and airflow is insufficient to dissipate heat; this more commonly occurs in stockpiles and waste piles, rarely in bedded coal underground. Where coal fires occur, there is attendant air pollution from emission of smoke and noxious fumes into the atmosphere. Coal seam fires may burn underground for decades, threatening destruction of forests, homes, roadways and other valuable infrastructure. The best-known coal-seam fire may be the one which led to the permanent evacuation of Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States.
  Approximately 75 Tg/S per year of Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂) is released from burning coal. After release, the Sulfur Dioxide is oxidized to gaseous H₂SO₂ which scatters solar radiation, hence their increase in the atmosphere exerts a cooling effect on climate that masks some of the warming caused by increased greenhouse gases. Release of SO₂ also contributes to the widespread acidification of ecosystems.
caption: Illustration of air pollutants generated by U.S. power plants (includes both coal-fired and oil-fired plants).
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