I have been thinking a lot about coal lately, especially with Christmas around the corner and the old threat to children who had been naughty of receiving coal in their stockings instead of toys.
Coal is made from plants that were alive even before the dinosaurs. Coal as such is a non-renewable source of energy and has been used as a source of heat for centuries but 2 centuries ago, it began being used to generate energy that basically moved humans into the Industrial Revolution.
The United States uses coal primarily to generate electricity that runs our appliances for example a household refrigerator would take a half-ton a year, an electric water heater uses 2 tons a year.
The US has more coal reserves than any other country in the world, and we learned lately that Oklahoma is targeted to have coal leases let on tribal lands held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. BIA has not always handled leases well on tribal lands and we know that by how well they handled the land they leased for lead and zinc for members of the Quapaw Nation.
If you want to see what surface coal mining looks like in action you don't have to go far, just go to Vinita and then put yourself on the road to Nowata and you won't be able to miss it as the earth opens up so close to the road it will mesmerize you. Not all coal mined sites get cleaned up and put back to good use like the "strip pits" just north of us in Kansas. Oklahoma hasn't always made sure this happened. But this latest notice from the Bureau of Land Management and BIA over 800,000 acres in Oklahoma could be affected.
LEAD took a shot at making a protest about the coal leases in Ottawa County. Gosh, what else can we take? We already have BF Goodrich Benzene, the Tar Creek Superfund Site that runs right through us, but add that to the flooding, that then spreads those toxic sediments farther each flood, which is always a threat, but now nearing a promise if Senator Inhofe's amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act doesn't get pulled.
People talk and lately I heard GRDA's coal fired power generates more electricity than is generated when Grand Lake is as full as it can be, like when it is flooding Miami.
When LEAD Agency was doing the Grand Lake Mercury Study, a research project with the Harvard School of Public Health and the Oklahoma Health and Sciences Center, we all learned a lot about coal and how burning coal releases heavy metals, especially mercury. We were interested in learning more about local fish, since we knew we ate fish and lots of other people did, too and since there were fish consumption guidance on lead in local fish and since lead and mercury can harm young children in much the same ways, we thought it would be important to learn how much local fish could be consumed and what kind and how big they should be to eat, and how big they should be just put back to have ... more babies. Check our website for more information on our results.
We learned coal is actually a dying industry. Lots of coal plants across the country and around the world are going to bed. They expose us to mercury and other heavy metals, but coal is a fossil fuel, from the age of the dinosaurs and it has outlived its time. Burning it also releases gases that effect climate and we know better now and have generally outgrown it. Except GRDA of course, which could have put theirs to bed when it got struck by lightning? yes, which could have been a sign for them. They decided to invest in natural gas but also continue to use coal.
When coal is burned we have what comes out of the smoke stack, but when it is cleaned out of the furnace, the ash has to be removed and stored because coal ash (known as flyash) is then a hazardous waste.
If you have ever picked up a hunk of coal, you know that their slogan "Clean coal." It's really a dirty lie. There is nothing clean about coal. Wind and solar, that's what clean can look like and no trace of toxic ash. Our hope for coal: Keep it in the ground, we know better.
The lump of coal naughty little children might have woken up to on Christmas mornings, linger long in our environment, too. Coal is a dirty lie but flooding is in reality the dirty deal we get long into the future unless we act in unison now.
Send a message to our senator, make a call, sign a postcard during the parade. We'll be there hoping he won't flood us and wondering what he will get in his stocking?
Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim
Coal is made from plants that were alive even before the dinosaurs. Coal as such is a non-renewable source of energy and has been used as a source of heat for centuries but 2 centuries ago, it began being used to generate energy that basically moved humans into the Industrial Revolution.
The United States uses coal primarily to generate electricity that runs our appliances for example a household refrigerator would take a half-ton a year, an electric water heater uses 2 tons a year.
The US has more coal reserves than any other country in the world, and we learned lately that Oklahoma is targeted to have coal leases let on tribal lands held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. BIA has not always handled leases well on tribal lands and we know that by how well they handled the land they leased for lead and zinc for members of the Quapaw Nation.
If you want to see what surface coal mining looks like in action you don't have to go far, just go to Vinita and then put yourself on the road to Nowata and you won't be able to miss it as the earth opens up so close to the road it will mesmerize you. Not all coal mined sites get cleaned up and put back to good use like the "strip pits" just north of us in Kansas. Oklahoma hasn't always made sure this happened. But this latest notice from the Bureau of Land Management and BIA over 800,000 acres in Oklahoma could be affected.
LEAD took a shot at making a protest about the coal leases in Ottawa County. Gosh, what else can we take? We already have BF Goodrich Benzene, the Tar Creek Superfund Site that runs right through us, but add that to the flooding, that then spreads those toxic sediments farther each flood, which is always a threat, but now nearing a promise if Senator Inhofe's amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act doesn't get pulled.
People talk and lately I heard GRDA's coal fired power generates more electricity than is generated when Grand Lake is as full as it can be, like when it is flooding Miami.
When LEAD Agency was doing the Grand Lake Mercury Study, a research project with the Harvard School of Public Health and the Oklahoma Health and Sciences Center, we all learned a lot about coal and how burning coal releases heavy metals, especially mercury. We were interested in learning more about local fish, since we knew we ate fish and lots of other people did, too and since there were fish consumption guidance on lead in local fish and since lead and mercury can harm young children in much the same ways, we thought it would be important to learn how much local fish could be consumed and what kind and how big they should be to eat, and how big they should be just put back to have ... more babies. Check our website for more information on our results.
We learned coal is actually a dying industry. Lots of coal plants across the country and around the world are going to bed. They expose us to mercury and other heavy metals, but coal is a fossil fuel, from the age of the dinosaurs and it has outlived its time. Burning it also releases gases that effect climate and we know better now and have generally outgrown it. Except GRDA of course, which could have put theirs to bed when it got struck by lightning? yes, which could have been a sign for them. They decided to invest in natural gas but also continue to use coal.
When coal is burned we have what comes out of the smoke stack, but when it is cleaned out of the furnace, the ash has to be removed and stored because coal ash (known as flyash) is then a hazardous waste.
If you have ever picked up a hunk of coal, you know that their slogan "Clean coal." It's really a dirty lie. There is nothing clean about coal. Wind and solar, that's what clean can look like and no trace of toxic ash. Our hope for coal: Keep it in the ground, we know better.
The lump of coal naughty little children might have woken up to on Christmas mornings, linger long in our environment, too. Coal is a dirty lie but flooding is in reality the dirty deal we get long into the future unless we act in unison now.
Send a message to our senator, make a call, sign a postcard during the parade. We'll be there hoping he won't flood us and wondering what he will get in his stocking?
Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim
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