Unsafe Energy Sources
The minerals and gases we burn for fuel here in the United States are destroying lives.
Coal
In Kingston, Tennessee a billion gallon coal ash sludge spill inundated fifteen homes last month, rendering some of them uninhabitable. Coal ash sludge is a mixture of ashes from burnt coal and water. The toxic brew sits in open air lagoons surrounded by earthen dikes. One of the Tennessee dikes ruptured and unloaded on the neighborhood.
Coal ash sludge contains a number of poisonous heavy metals, including arsenic and uranium. Even small amounts of arsenic and uranium will cause cancer in humans. Coal ash sludge also contains high levels of mercury, another lethal substance.
According to an inventory obtained by the New York Times, the Kingston plant also produces 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium and 91,000 pounds of chromium every year. All of these dangerous chemicals have now begun to contaminate Tennessee streams and rivers in the middle of the rainy season.
Natural Gas
PG&E, the organization that made Erin Brockovich famous, is at it again. The company seems to have no explanation for a natural gas pipeline explosion which leveled a home in Rancho Cordova, California on the day before Christmas. The explosion killed one of the home’s inhabitants, and left two others in critical condition.
Although several local residents reported smelling natural gas in the days leading up to the explosion, no action was taken to protect the public. The expert appointed by the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the explosion said “typically, if you smell gas, you’d evacuate the whole neighborhood.”
These incidents give US voters one more reason to demand more investment in clean energy. Wind turbines and solar panels don’t kill people.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:45 am
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