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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.