More coal mining is needed, not less

By BARRY K. THACKER
January 22, 2006

God bless coal miners. We depend on them to keep the lights on. Tomorrow, we may be asking them to help fuel our cars.

The recent Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia raises public awareness about the dangers coal miners face. Although mining coal no longer makes the list of most dangerous professions, and the number of fatalities in 2005 was an all-time low, accidents can happen.

Some Americans are shocked to learn that over half our electricity still comes from coal. But this is the 21st century! Why not use renewable energy rather than digging coal out of the ground like our ancestors did?

According to TVA, 61 percent of our electricity in the Tennessee Valley comes from burning coal, and 0.01 percent is produced by renewable energy such as from windmills. The rest comes from nuclear plants, hydroelectric dams and natural gas turbines.

Participation in TVA’s renewable energy program, Green Power Switch, is voluntary and requires paying more for electricity. Fewer than 1 percent of ratepayers do so. Furthermore, locations where windmills can be built are limited, and good sites are banned because they might spoil somebody’s view or kill birds and bats.

TVA gets tarred and feathered every time it proposes building a new nuclear plant or dam. Natural gas is clean-burning, but we will not risk developing new production fields due to environmental concerns. Yet, demand for electricity continues to grow, with Internet use alone accounting for more than a 10 percent increase. If we convert to hydrogen-powered cars, more electricity will be required to produce hydrogen.

I believe that, if we choose to maintain our current standard of living, then we must burn more coal, not less. TVA apparently agrees because it is investing $5.7 billion on clean-air improvements at coal-fired plants.

When a mining accident happens, we should honor those who died and build monuments to remember them, just as we do for our soldiers, firefighters and police officers. We should assess what happened, learn from that experience and advance.

One major advance in mine safety is mechanization. Modern marvels now allow surface mining to be performed and get miners out of underground mines. Protest groups will complain that surface mines are ugly. So are Wal-Mart parking lots. At least surface mines turn green when vegetation is established during reclamation.

Even though surface mining provides two-thirds of our nation’s coal, underground mining is still needed to meet our energy needs. Underground mines are highly mechanized, and mining coal provides opportunities for those willing to assume the risk. According to Ken Hodak of National Coal Corporation in Knoxville, "The average salary of one of our experienced miners in Tennessee is $50,000 per year."

In the early 1900s, my grandfathers switched from being farmers to coal miners. They took that risk in return for higher pay so their children could have more opportunities in life. One of them died in a mine, and the other lived to be 90. Needless to say, coal miners are my heroes.

I believe we should let individuals decide if the risk is worth taking and then say, "Thank you," when they do.

Are there sites where coal mining should not be performed? Yes, and such decisions need to balance all the issues and be made by folks who live and work there. But how do we address global warming? Scientists and engineers require tools such as computers powered by electricity, not picks and shovels, to solve that 21st-century problem.

Should we look for opportunities to develop renewable energy? Absolutely. Most of the world’s oil supply will be exhausted in 50 years, and coal will have to shoulder even more of the energy burden. Even though we have 25 percent of the world’s supply, our coal reserves will last only another 200 years. We need that much time to build enough renewable facilities to replace coal as an energy source for future generations.

If you disagree, then I trust you already volunteer to pay more for renewable energy, as I do. If you have an alternative to mining coal, e-mail your plan to the News Sentinel editor. Remember, for every hour you spend preparing a response on your computer, a miner will have to dig another 2.3 pounds of coal out of the ground.

Barry K. Thacker is a professional engineer, president of Geo/Environmental Associates Inc. and founder of the nonprofit Coal Creek Watershed Foundation Inc. in Knoxville. In 2003, he was awarded the Hoover Medal by an international consortium of engineering societies for his service to humanity.

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