Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future

Although this was in my library for some time, I decided to read it now due to the mining accidents in Utah and China. I was hoping it might shed some light on why the number of mining accidents seems to be increasing, which it did. It also provided a host of other information about coal and the companies that mine and burn coal that was fascinating.From mountain top removal mining, to reverse mining to open pit mining, the author covers how coal is mined in detail. He also looks at the economics of coal in tunneled mines versus strip mines and why West Virginia and surrounding areas are so poorly compensated for the work they do. It was amazing to see the mine operator's comments in Utah on the news, while reading his previous statements that were detailed in the book. It became quite obvious that his interests in the miners trapped in Utah were more economic than true sympathy for the miners or their families.The second section deals with the burning of coal, and why it is so well loved by utilities. Basically, coal burned in older generation plants is a license to print money and the coal and utility companies are fully aware of the damage done, but put profits ahead of anything and everything. Further, the author details the obstructionist techniques used by these companies to keep coal going as a fuel.In the final section, the author details the damage being done by coal to the environment, as well as to humans who live downwind from the plants. He also looks at various solutions that could be employed today to make cola a much cleaner burning fuel and how this would affect the costs of electricity. He also ventures to China to see what they are doing about carbon releases and how we are helping to cause the massive build up of coal fired plants in Chine with our purchasing habits.This is a wonderful book that will answer almost any question you would have about the mining and burning of coal and why we are still using a 19th century fuel in the 21st century. It is very readable and should be read by every individual with a connection to the electric grid. My only complaint is in how the book was foot noted. No foot notes were present in the text, making it hard to line up the text with the notes at the end of the book.

Is the earth about ready to ecologically bite the big one via coal-caused global warming, or is this whole thing blown out of proportion? I don't know; but I think we should play it safe and listen to Jeff Goodell. I might not agree with his liberal politics, but I do respect the study he has done on `Big Coal', which is full of fascinating and scary stats and observations. According to Goodell, each American indirectly causes 20 tons of CO2 to spew out into the air each year! Also, the U.S. is known as the `Saudi Arabia of Coal', containing fully a quarter of the earth's coal supply, and consuming over a billion tons a year! Some coal trains are a mile-long! The last nuclear plant went on-line over 30 years ago because of the problem of what to do with nuclear waste.He says the earth's ecology is at the tipping point of some serious global warming because of `Big Coal'. He says that we've already raised the average temperature one degree farenheit and are well on the way to a 3.5 degrees increase which will start a catastrophic series of events in nature that we don't even want to think about. He says that it would overall, society-wide, be cheaper to clean-up the coal emissions rather than pay for the health problems the dirty air causes.The strange thing is that the coal issue is not even talked about very much, probably because most of us are so far removed from coal excavation or plants. Goodell said he had not even seen a piece of coal until he was 41 (presumably while writing this book.). By the way, I used to see coal as a kid because we had a coal furnace, but haven't seen any since. You could see lumps in the street also.All of this reminds me a little of Y2K. Nobody got excited about it until it was almost too late. Then there was a all-out (and successful) effort to avert massive computer problems.Now I think it's time to do something about the coal situation before it is too late. Is Goodell an alarmist or a realist? I hope he's only the former, but fear he is also the latter.

There are currently many books out there on peak oil, or energy concerns in general. However, probably not many people have read up on coal which is an old technology that's having a resurgence of sorts. This book does a nice job of filling in the gaps and talking not only about the pollution issues with coal, but also about supply and demand and what the coal industry is like in the US. I was surprised to find out how much power the railroads have, and how poorly-paid and unprotected the coal miners are. The impression I came away with is that the coal industry is a massively powerful voice in our society and is able to use that power to benefit itself, often against the good of the country. We will probably continue to hear more and more talk about clean coal technology in the near future. Anyone who wants to have some decent beginning knowledge of what's behind coal might enjoy reading this book.

Jeff Goodell is a first-rate reporter and a skilled narrator. This book is authoritative and valuable in my newest project on the consequences of coal combustion. As an environmental journalist myself I appreciate the depth of detail and expertise in telling a big story. Jeff’s made a big and complex story a very good read. Keith Schneider, correspondent for ProPublica and National Geographic