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Hidden Costs
Content: Hidden Costs of Coal Ash>Mtn Top Removal>Acid Rain>Nuclear
The costs of energy are much more than our monthly, energy bills.
Dirty energy is heavily subsidized by the government which costs us more in taxes.
Its the Hidden Costs however, that are really hurting us, our environment and our little one's future. From poisoned aquifers to higher asthma rates, our use of coal and other fossil fuels are negatively affecting our environment and society.
Homes and Building's Energy Bills represent the biggest source of most people's negative environmental and social foot print.
Climate change is used often as a reason to reduce our dirty energy use. There are also millions of Hidden Costs affecting us here in Appalachia right now. Below we list just a few.
MountainTop Removal
North Carolina is the largest consumer of Mountain Top Removal mined coal after Georgia. If you are not fully aware of the catastrophic damage this causes our streams, wetlands, forests and mountains; the pictures here offer only a small hint. Scenes like the pictures below have happened to an area the size of Delaware and are growing exponentially. This irreversible man made tragedy is happening on a monumental scale to our Appalachian neighbors to the west. For more information on mountain top removal, visit www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/ www.iLoveMountains.org
Attention! Residents of North Carolina who pay an electric bill:
This is what you are doing to the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Toxic Spills
December 22, 2008 One of the largest toxic spills the world has ever seen recently took place in our neighboring state of Tennessee. 5.5 million gallons of the coal by-product, liquid fly ash broke free from its earthen dam into the Emory river which feeds the mighty Tennessee river. Millions of pounds of arsenic, lead, chromium, thallium and other toxic chemicals have made thier way into one of our country's great rivers which also happens to account for millions of people's drinking water. Never heard of this very recent environmental tragedy? You are not alone. Visit www.appalachianvoices.org for a full accout of the TVA Coal Ash Disaster.
It sure is easy to blame TVA for this, but they are supplying our needs. Much of the blame belongs to anyone that pays an electric bill. Could the same thing happen to the French Broad River? The lower one's electric bill, the less liquid fly ash has to be created and stored.
Coal Ash Pond on French Broad river Google Maps link. Click on Satellite button for better imagery.
Stream and Forest Acidification from Acid Precipitation
Because of the many variables involved, it is hard to scientifically prove that our weakening forests and streams are a direct result of our fossil fuel use. However, emerging scientific data suggests that our pristine mountains and ridgetops are being acidified due to the Southeast's large number of coal-fired power plants. Ridge and Mountaintops are largely removed from most of our pollution sources. Air pollution and rain, however, are concentrated at these higher elevations where measurements are high in ozone and other pollutants associated with coal fired power plants. Many researchers feel that this is the main suspect behind weakening stream quality and plant life in our Appalachian mountains.
Nuclear Energy
The recent events in Japan are not going to help advocates of Nuclear Energy. Other than the major issues of radioactive waste, risks of terrorism, and exorbitant, subsidized costs to constuct, the arguement of general safety is back into the debate. While our nuclear plants are generally safe from tsunamis they face the same fundamental design flaw. Risk of meltdown when the power grid goes down.
In our search for radiation poisoning images we came aross many that were deemed unsuitable for display. There have been fires at two different nuclear plants run by progress energy in the past five years. We may never know how many close calls there have been at nuclear plants in our region. The earthquakes of August 23 2011 forced several East Coast reactors into shut down mode with deisel generators being the last line of defense in catastrohpic meltdowns. Many nuclear engineers have gone on record that while nuclear may be a good technology for submarines it is not a good fit for widespread power generation.
Lowering energy costs is among the most fiscally and socially responsible things a person can do.
Visit our Asheville Green Homes featured project page or visit our Asheville Builders Services page for more on energy efficient homes and green building.
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