Climate and Energy

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The Story Of Coal

From cradle to grave, coal is one of the most polluting energy sources on earth. Our addiction to the energy coal provides has fundamentally altered the earth's atmosphere and physical landscape for the worse. Yet despite coal's harmful effects on human health and the environment, we continue to mine it, burn it for electricity, and dispose of its abundant wastes in unsafe ways.

Illustration: Joshua Herbolsheimer

PART 1:

MINING

Mountaintop removal coal mining has irreparably destroyed mountains and streams across Appalachia, menacing local communities.

PART 2:

BURNING

Burning coal is a major cause of global warming and releases toxic pollution that threatens our air and water.

EPILOGUE:

WASTE POLLUTION

The ash and sludge left over after coal is burned contains a witch’s brew of toxins but shockingly isn’t treated as a hazardous waste.

COAL MINING

The Appalachian mountains are the epitome of modern coal mining's disastrous effects. In just a few decades, mountaintop removal mining has destroyed more than 400 majestic Appalachian peaks and buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams under the exploded rubble. Earthjustice is working to protect Appalachian communities by seeking a permanent end to mountaintop removal.

COAL BURNING

Burning coal for electricity generates more than a third of our national carbon dioxide emissions, the primary cause of global warming. Coal-fired power plants, in addition to their tremendous impact on the earth’s climate,

also release dangerous toxic pollutants like sulfur dioxide and mercury into the air and water. Earthjustice is working to clean up dirty coal plants and keep harmful pollution out of our air and water.

Coal Waste Pollution

Coal ash is the hazardous waste full of toxic metals that remains after coal is burned. Power plants dump this waste in unlined landfills, ponds, or underground mines, where toxins in the ash readily leach into drinking water supplies. The coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2009 drew national attention to the dangers of coal ash but federal protections are still nonexistent. Earthjustice is working to ensure U.S. EPA protects people from this hazardous waste.

Latest Legal Cases

Gulf Deep Water Oil Drilling Challenge

Earthjustice is representing the Sierra Club, the Gulf Restoration Network and the Florida Wildlife Federation in challenging the federal government’s flawed environmental risk assessment of Shell Oil Company’s plan to drill for oil in deep Gulf of Mexico water near the site of BP’s catastrophic 2010 well blowout. The suit alleges that the government’s calculations grossly understate the blow-out risk and that Shell’s drilling plan places communities at risk of another major oil spill along the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts.

State Department’s Refusal to Disclose Tar Sands Communications Challenge

Earthjustice is representing environmental and ethics groups in challenging the State Department’s refusal to disclose communication records with a lobbyist for TransCanada Pipelines, Paul Elliott, who was previously a presidential campaign manager for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Disclosure of these communications may reveal improprieties in the State Department’s decision-making with respect to TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline that would transport tar sands crude oil to from Alberta, Canada to US refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

Washington State Building Code Intervention

In February 2011, a federal court upheld Washington’s 2009 building energy code in a victory for conservation and energy groups. Buildings are responsible for 40% of our nation’s total energy use, and constructing energy-efficient new buildings helps reduce energy use and homeowners’ energy bills.

Make a contribution

This is not a dream. It's a promise.
To ourselves and to our future. Let's keep it.
Earthjustice is using the courts to stop the construction of dirty coal plants and encourage carbon-free energy. It's just one of the ways we're safeguarding health, preserving our natural heritage and promoting a clean energy future. Join us today.

Featured Stories

Mountain Heroes: Sid's Story

65-year-old Sid Moye has spent his entire life in the "Wild and Wonderful" State of West Virginia. He is profiled in the Mountain Heroes series, and is one of the many people who live near mountaintop removal mining and who have watched it threaten or destroy their homes, mountains, and in some cases, their health too.

It Takes A Sleuth

Earthjustice Attorney Jan Hasselman stopped a coal scheme by mining industry documents. Read a Q&A interview with Jan, and learn about the coal industry's plans for coal export facilities up and down the West Coast that would eventually export tens of millions of tons per year

Stopping Coal In Its Tracks: Q&A with Earthjustice Attorney Abbie Dillen

Coal states want to create an energy transmission superhighway straight to East Coast power markets, effectively locking the eastern seaboard into dirty, coal-fired power for generations. Attorney Abigail Dillen describes how Earthjustice was able to successfully put the brakes on the coal companies’ plans, at least temporarily.

Coal Exports from the Pacific Northwest

As the Pacific Northwest works to shut down its last two coal-fired power plants, the region finds itself at an energy crossroads: will it become a world leader in green energy, efficiency, and innovation—or a global warming exporter?

Preventing More BP-Type Oil Disasters

If ever the Earth needed a good lawyer, now is the time as oil by the millions of gallons continues to pollute the Gulf of Mexico, making this the worst oil spill in the planet's history.

Oil Spill Q & A with Earthjustice Attorney David Guest: "I Wasn't Surprised At All"

As managing attorney for the Earthjustice office in Tallahassee, David Guest has been knee-deep in Florida’s water pollution and protection issues for more than 20 years. Recently we sat down with David to talk about his latest water case, the BP oil spill in the Gulf.

The Anatomy of Air Pollution from Coal Plants

Coal plants are some of the most polluting industrial facilities on earth. The pollution emitted from their smokestacks has a profound impact on human health and the environment. Find out more about the effects.

Florida Coal Plant Victory Leads to Renewable Power

In 2007, Earthjustice successfully opposed Florida Power and Light's proposal to build what would have been America's largest coal-fired power plant. Two years later, the utility announced plans to harness a different kind of energy: solar.

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Founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971

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