鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as clean coal,鈥� says Ilan Levin, legal counsel for the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) in Austin, Texas.
Some coal plants are far dirtier than others, however. The 50 coal-fired power plants producing the highest sulphur dioxide emissions per megawatt-hour spewed out 40 per cent of the US鈥檚 SO2 pollution while providing just 14 per cent of its electricity, says a new from the EIP.
Similarly, one-third of power-plant emissions of mercury comes from plants responsible for 18 per cent of the electricity generated in the country.
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Sulphur dioxide, mercury and emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) could all be cut with wider use of treatment processes, Levin says. This would save lives: in 2004 the Clean Air Task Force in Boston estimated that fitting all US plants with the best available technology for limiting SO2 and NOx
Janet Gellici, executive director of the American Coal Council, defends the industry: 鈥淥ver the last 30 years we鈥檝e increased our use of coal by a third, and at the same time our emissions of SO2 and NOx have decreased by 30 per cent.鈥�
But no technology can readily soak up power-plant emissions of carbon dioxide, which account for 40 per cent of US output of the gas. 鈥淭hese traditional coal plants cannot be part of our energy future,鈥� Levin concludes.
鈥淭hese traditional coal plants cannot be part of our energy future鈥�
