Coal’s Environmental Damage Costs U.S. $62 Billion

[Zeno Swijtink]

Coal’s Environmental Damage Costs U.S. $62 Billion
By Tina Seeley

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Burning coal to generate electricity in the U.S. causes about $62 billion a year in “hidden costs” for environmental damage, not including expenses related to global warming, the National Academy of Sciences said.

The cost was part of $120 billion the group identified as total damages from the use of energy in 2005, according to a report the academy’s National Research Council issued today. The study was requested by Congress as part of 2005 energy legislation.

The academy was asked to define and evaluate external expenses and benefits associated with production, distribution and use of energy not already reflected in market prices. The report doesn’t include specific costs for damage associated with greenhouse-gas emissions. Congress is debating legislation to limit carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the effort to curb such global warming.

“Although large uncertainties are associated with the committee’s estimates, there is little doubt that this aggregate total substantially underestimates the damages,” according to the report by a committee led by Jared Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Damages associated with the normal operation of nuclear power plants “are quite low compared with those of fossil-fuel- based power plants,” the report found. Renewable energy sources, including wind and solar power, don’t currently produce adverse effects comparable to the larger sources of electricity, the report said.

The study calculated the costs of air pollutants from energy on human health, grain crop and timber yields, building materials, recreation and visibility of outdoor vistas. For human health, the report assesses the costs in terms of premature death and disease.

Power Plants

“The report completely ignores the ‘hidden’ benefits of coal-based generation,” Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association in Washington, said in an e-mailed statement. “Numerous studies have shown the health benefits of electricity in providing air conditioning, heating and refrigeration.”

Raulston said coal, which provides half of the U.S. electricity supply, is the cheapest source of power and benefits low-income individuals. She also said that emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter have all declined as the amount of coal-fired electricity has almost tripled during the past 39 years.

Environmental groups said including costs of climate change and other pollutants would make the $120 billion figure higher.

‘Dirty Energy’

“Without quantifying the cost of global warming, many toxic pollutants like mercury or national security risks, the report puts a whopping $120 billion price tag on a year’s worth of mostly air pollution from our dirty energy sources,” Sean Garren, a clean-energy advocate for Environment America, said in an e-mailed release.

“With the worst effects of global warming getting closer on the horizon, we know the cost of our current energy system is even higher still,” he said.

The study looked at 406 coal-fired power plants in 2005, which represent 95 percent of the nation’s coal-fired electricity. Aggregate damages associated with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emitted by the facilities amounted to $156 million on average per plant.

Cars, trucks and the burning of transportation fuels generated $56 billion in health and other nonclimate-related damages in 2005.

Aggregate Damages

Natural gas produced $740 million in aggregate damages, an average annual cost of $1.49 million per plant.

The National Academy of Sciences is a non-profit organization created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to coordinate the work of volunteer scholars who examine subjects at the request of government agencies.

“Failures to account for externalities can lead to distortions in decision-making,” Cohon, the leader of the study committee, told reporters on a conference call today. With distortions, “there’s a case to be made for government intervention of various sorts, like taxes, regulation, etcetera.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tina Seeley in Washington at [email protected].

Last Updated: October 19, 2009 16:20 EDT

[Angel]

Thanks Zeno,

I passed this on to Professor Von Meier for our Energy, Technology and Society class meeting today.