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53 Chapter Five: Coal and the Environment

air, the slightest spark from any electrical equipment can set off raging fires or outright explosions. North American coal mining has worked to reduce this and other risks. Geology experts and mechanical, electronic, and chemical sensors monitor the tunnels and coal faces for any slight shift in the surrounding rocks, “sniffing” for methane and other gases, and constantly checking for air problems. Ventilation equipment, too, is improving all the time. But, as with any heavy industry, from oil rig flare-ups to chemical factory leaks, coal mining still suffers accidents. The Future of Coal Around the world, the pattern of energy sources and uses is changing fast. Many nations are pushing toward more renewable energy, reduced greenhouse gases and other toxic emissions, and less damage to the environment, wildlife, and human health. Renewables also give energy security in that each nation provides for its own needs, rather than buying energy from other countries, which can be affected by global prices, trade bans, and even wars. Coal’s supporters argue that this natural resource already gives North America energy independence. It is plentiful and relatively cheap. Further, technologies are being developed to make it less polluting as a burned fuel, so that modern mining Mining Disasters Few events grab the news more than coal mine fires, explosions, collapses, and other accidents. These are a few significant ones: • Canada’s worst single disaster was at the Hillcrest Mine, Alberta, in 1914, when 189 workers died in an explosion. • In 1992, 26 miners died in a methane explosion at the Westray Mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia—which had only opened the previous year. • The deadliest event in the United States was at Monongah Mine, West Virginia, in 1907. At least 360 miners were killed in a fireball due to burning coal dust or methane. In 2010, 29 miners lost their lives at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia. Again, a probable mix of coal dust and methane caught fire and set off a series of explosions.