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Power plants that burn coal produce more than 90 times as much sulfur dioxide, five times as much nitrogen oxide and twice as much carbon dioxide as those that
by j_baker 14y ago
Power plants that burn coal produce more than 90 times as much sulfur dioxide, five times as much nitrogen oxide and twice as much carbon dioxide as those that run on natural gas, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and nitrogen oxides lead to smog.
You know, the more I read about it, the more I think fracking gets an undeserved bad rap. Certainly there are some concerns over the environmental impact drilling has, but the rewards seem to make perfecting the technology a no-brainer: cheap, abundant, clean fuel that will at least slow global warming down (if not cure it completely). Plus, we have enough of the stuff that we could extract and refine it in the US.
- astrodust 14y agoCoal is also extracted through mountain-top removal which is extremely damaging to communities. Start with a mountain and a valley, end up with a toxic wasteland. That said, the consequences of fracking could be far, far worse. It's understood what coal does. What natural gas extraction of that variety does is still a new thing waiting to be discovered. It could literally poison the well for hundreds of miles around, and with fresh water being such an important resource these days, squandering it on natural gas extraction and further contaminating the ground-water with chemicals may turn out to be a very bad idea.
- j_baker 14y agoThe economist would claim that fracking is actually far less invasive than other forms of mining: http://www.economist.com/node/21558462 http://www.economist.com/node/21558462