Student Post: The Real Cost of Coal

The Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment wrote a report highlighting the externalities of the use of coal. The report is titledMining Coal, Mounting Costs: The Life Cycle Consequences of Coal.

It focused on the actual costs of coal to society, including things such as land disturbance, public health effects, fatalities in transportation, emissions, mercury impacts, subsidies, abandoned mine lands, and contribution to climate change.

The report estimates the “total annual economically-quantifiable cost of coal” to range from $175 Billion to $523 Billion in yearly additional costs, with a “best” estimate of $345 Billion. Taking these costs into consideration, the report also estimates that the added costs consumers pay for coal-fired electricity is between $0.09 to $0.27 per kWh, with the “best” estimate being an additional cost of $0.18 per kWh.

Measurable Consequences of Coal

The study identified 12 measurable consequences related to the life cycle of coal. The following is a brief overview of several of these consequences:

Underground Effects
Over 100,000 miners have died from mine accidents since 1900 and over 200,000 have died from black lung disease. The costs of these deaths and diseases was largely internalized within the industry, however, as recovery from companies has become more difficult (due to their dissolution) the federal government and states are increasingly bearing these costs through public health services.

Effects to Coal-Mining Regions
There is evidence that in heavy coal mining areas, a higher than normal rate of deaths from lung cancer, heart, respiratory, and kidney disease exists. Some of these costs were historically internalized by offering health insurance and other health benefits to mine workers. However, in the case of community members and other not directly involved in mining operations, it is more likely that these costs are external: i.e. borne by the public in general rather than the responsible party.

Rail Transport Costs
The report claims an average of 246 deaths yearly result from accidents during the transportation of coal, including rail traffic, truck traffic, and power plant operations.Traditional tort principles of negligence provide a fairly direct means of recovery for victims of such accidents. However, monetary compensation for the loss of life is inadequate to account for many objective variables (such as lost economic productivity) and the almost unlimited value of human life.

Air Pollution Costs
The Harvard study estimates that “particulates and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur kill 24,000 people annually”. The value of these lost lives is not definitely ascertainable; however, the study estimates it at approximately 187 Billion each year!

Subsidies
There is a significant amount of government involvement in regulation in the coal industry. From tax cuts, special deductions, and outright subsidies, the coal industry is far from a “free market” economic model.The study emphasized that there are many external costs the use of coal, and these subsidies are a perfect example. Manipulation of tax code, government backed loans, and direct subsidies to companies are all additional costs of coal indirectly imposed on society.

Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation
Abandoned mines are prevalent in North Dakota and other coal-producing areas in the United States. While marked efforts have been made to “reclaim” these areas, the marks of coal mining from decades past can still be seen in numerous locations in western North Dakota.
Conclusion

This Harvard medical report should make people skeptical of claims made by advocates for the coal industry who argue that coal is perfectly safe and with no harmful externalities. While coal-powered electrical generation is vital to meeting the current electrical needs of society, the results of this study are yet another reason to look into moving more of our electrical generation needs to cleaner and more sustainable sources.