Handle with Care: The Local Air Pollution Costs of Coal Storage

The main finding, which I'm shocked hasn't been so clearly enunciated before, is that within a 25 mile radius of an outdoor power plant coal stockpile you have a measurable increase in infant mortality rates. Personally, I think the externalities around some of these traditional generation options need to be more thoroughly understood and discussed, and this type of analysis is a good jumping off point. It is extremely sad that we have to re-litigate the localized environmental impacts of the mid 20th century, today.

As an example, you can see some of that in the evolution of stacks on coal-fired power plants. First, they were short and people nearby got sick (some of these plants even made it into the last 5-10 years in major urban areas in the US, once the communities around them became impoverished over the decades, there had minimal advocates for their elevated cancer and respiratory illness rates). After quite a while there were local restrictions so they built massively tall stacks to vent particulates and other waste high enough for it to drift away. Those stacks in the Midwest and rust belt caused damage (in the form of acid rain) in the mid-Atlantic and northeast. Today, there are scrubber systems and filters, and the idea that those emissions could just be stuck in the ground. However, the solution to the acid rain and long stacks issue was the market-based cap and trade of the early 90s, which has been less effective recently as prices for compliance have exceeded the cost of penalties, leading to greater rates of pollution.