Chicago's Crawford plant
Image: Flickr/Rainforest Action Network
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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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Coal plants place a disproportionate burden on poor and largely minority communities, exposing residents to high levels of pollutants that affect public health, according to a new report led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The report ranks all 378 coal-fired power plants in the United States according to a plant's impact on the health, economics and environment of nearby communities. People living near coal plants are disproportionately poor and minorities, the report found; the six million people living within three miles of those 378 plants have an average per capita income of $18,400 per year; 39 percent are people of color. "The message arising from this report is simple: These polluting, life-compromising coal plants must be closed," the NAACP concluded in its report, Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People.
Coal plants are large emitters of mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide – a potent greenhouse gas. Along with contributing to climate change, pollution from coal plants is linked to asthma attacks, heart problems, and other diseases.
Failing grades
The report also found that not all coal plants are equal. The impacts of some plants on the public health of nearby communities are measurably worse than others, the authors said. And more often than not, the most offending plants are located in poor and largely minority communities.
The NAACP report gave 75 coal plants a "failing" grade on their environmental justice scorecard and found that those plants were responsible for a heavy pollution burden: 14 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions and 13 percent of all nitrogen oxide emissions from all U.S. power plants came from those 75 power plants, according to the report.
The four million people living near those 75 "failing" plants are even poorer and more isolated communities of color. The average per capita income within three miles of the 75 failing plants is $17,500 and nearly 53 percent of the people are minorities, the analysis found.
"It's very easy right now to talk about climate change as something that is theoretical, to talk about the dirtiness caused by coal plants as something that is aesthetic" said NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous. "But when you ... actually meet with people in these communities, the stories that they tell you – about their children's lives being diminished, about older people in the communities lives being shortened by the presence of these plants – are disturbing."
Worst offender
Illinois topped the "failing" list with nine coal plants found to disproportionately harm the poor and communities of color. Illinois is also home to the worst offending coal plant on the list: Crawford Generating Station in Chicago, Ill, a 597-megawatt plant built in 1958 and operated by Edison International. The plant closed in August.
Two other Midwestern states, Indiana and Michigan, each had five plants on the "failing" list.
"To our indigenous people, this is a life-and-death issue," said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, who noted that tribal people in the Midwest continue to struggle with mercury contamination in their fish-heavy diets.
The Southeast also has its share of coal-fired problems: Virginia has five plants on the failing list, followed by North Carolina with four, then South Carolina and Florida with three apiece.
Doing work
Closing the 75 "failing" plants on the NAACP list would decrease U.S. electricity by about 8 percent, but would drop the number of Americans living within three miles of a coal plant by 67 percent, according to the report.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDon't move next to a coal plant, problem solved
Racism puts up barriers to equal access to educational and occupational opportunities. This results in lower income. That results in forcing people of color into areas of low rent. Those are next to the coal plants. Unless you have a comprehensive strategy for the elimination of racism, the problem is certainly not solved.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExactly. Good job showing the Randroid the way the real world works.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, poor people can move anywhere anytime. Money is highly overrated. ;)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisConservatives are such deep thinkers.
:)
Aren't we all sick and tired of the excuses people have for their own shortcomings? "I can't do this or that because of (insert name of excuse here)." Instead of sitting around doing nothing but whining like a dog at midnight how about getting off your duff and actually helping your own d--- self!? Become a "community organizer" of you can't think of anything productive to do...it led at least one guy into a pretty good gig.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople are for the most part where they are at any time in their lives because of the decisions they made up to that point in their lives. No one, no one in the United States need be poor if they choose not to be and are willing to put forth the work necessary to advance them selves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow as for this race-baiting, tree-hugging article goes, coal fired plants are the cleanest today than ever in history. This article may have had some truth in the 50s, but not today, regulations both state and federal require extraordinary measures to ensure that the effluent gases of both coal and oil fired plants are clean.
It appears that the purpose of this UNscientific article is to raise emotions against the major energy source in the United States and to play the race card at the same time.
Shame on you Scientific American for publishing such tripe.
Please go troll somewhere else, you despicable denialist Randroid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"""People are for the most part where they are at any time in their lives because of the decisions they made up to that point in their lives. No one, no one in the United States need be poor if they choose not to be and are willing to put forth the work necessary to advance them selves. """
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo one but a disgusting, ignorant Randroid would say something like that. My father grew up in a low-income household because his father had multiple heart attacks in a row, and his family wasn't that well off to start with. There are millions of other examples, but that was the first example that came to mind.
"""Now as for this race-baiting, tree-hugging article goes, coal fired plants are the cleanest today than ever in history. """
Compared to previous coal plants, maybe. But that's damning with faint praise.
"""This article may have had some truth in the 50s, but not today, regulations both state and federal require extraordinary measures to ensure that the effluent gases of both coal and oil fired plants are clean. """
Lie, because those regulations are both ineffective (due to coal industry lobbying) and frequently ignored.
"""It appears that the purpose of this UNscientific article is to raise emotions against the major energy source in the United States and to play the race card at the same time. """
LIE!!! That's just your White Trash perception, cracker (and before you start, I am caucasian as well).
"""Shame on you Scientific American for publishing such tripe."""
Blah, blah, blah. You are disgusting.
39% are people of color.......while 100% are low income, this is not a race issue it is economic, being poor means you can't afford high rent/payment for where you live therefore you live in a worse neighborhood- whether it be crime or pollution that is why the cost to live in these areas is lower. How about nuclear plant? No emissions there folks........or how about natural gas? Lower emissions but then we have to drill more and frack it out of the ground. Or...you could get an education and better your income/life. I realize for a myriad of reasons (some legit-some are excuses) not everyone can have a high paying job so unfortunately these people are destined to live in more undesirable areas- LIFE IS NOT FAIR!!!! deal with it, Thank you and have a nice day :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost if not all child prostitutes are really sex slaves. They are beaten, threatened and abused by pimps and kidnappers. There's an ongoing NY Times article series about this problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOtherwise, good, sarcastic rebuttal.
What we really need to do is move all the poor people underground.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeriously? That's just disgusting. What are you, Mitt "You should vote for me because I'm so rich" Romney?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree that coal plants leave much to be desired- that is why the USA needs to embrace nuclear and nice clean natural gas energy
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe if rich and poor people were forcibly made to switch locales, the coal plants would then be replaced by nuclear reactors. We could then dump the waste where the poor people live.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou disgust me. Why don't I get a truck and dump 400 tons of raw garbage on top of your car, and give you a concentrated dose of what many poor people have to deal with?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnce agian you add nothing to the discussion other than name calling. Do your parents know that you are using their computer?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo these hypothethical 14 year olds are doing what they have decided to do. They decided to quit school. They decided to leave home. They decided to try and then get hooked on drugs, ignoring the warnings they heard throughout their lives. Through the series of decisions they have made, they now find themselves in that situation. Since this is the life that they have crafted for themselves, who are you to judge and condemn them? Life is what we each make of it, nothing more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow, for the other side of the coin. What have you done to rescue these young girls who you have observed in need of help? Have you called the police? Have you called Social Services? Have you called the Child Protection agency? Apparently your decisions have enabled this situation to continue.