While reviewing our state and national Associated Press advisories during an afternoon budget meeting last week, there was one story that caught my attention, and got me thinking.
With the AP advisories, you only see the first paragraph or two of the stories that will be moving later in the day. This advisory boldly proclaimed that nuclear energy was still “safer” than natural gas and coal. I had to do a double take after reading this particular item.
Is nuclear energy really safer than coal, I thought to myself. Yes, thousands of miners over the years who have been exposed to mine dust have developed black lung. But black lung is still a preventable disease. Radiation exposure is a whole different story.
Given all of the distressing headlines coming out of Japan over the past two weeks, it seemed a little odd for someone to be saying that nuclear energy was “safer” than coal — go green movement or not. The timing of this particular statement just didn’t seem to make a lot of sense.
After all, we just learned last week that the possible radioactive contamination from one of the distressed plants in Japan was more serious than previously thought due to a possible breach at a reactor.
Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers suffered skin burns after wading into water 10,000 times more radioactive than levels normally found in water at or around the reactor, the AP reported. And the radiation from Japan is slowly making its way here. We learned Sunday that samples of rainwater in Massachusetts had registered very low concentrations of radiation that supposedly poses no health risks. The AP reported Tuesday that Virginia is now monitoring the air, water and vegetation for possible traces of radiation.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that coal isn’t radioactive. It doesn’t have the potential to sicken or kill thousands — if not millions, God forbid — in a horrific nuclear disaster.
So why all of the hate across the country for coal? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I probably never would have been born in America if my grandfather hadn’t come to the states from Hungary to work in a West Virginia coal mine. In fact, most families across our region have been touched by coal, and coal mining, in some way.
Why must coal be the bad boy poster child for the national go-green movement? Maybe it’s just me, but I would definitely prefer to live next door to a coal mine than a nuclear plant.
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When the much anticipated documentary/reality television show “Coal” debuts tonight at 10 p.m. on Spike TV, I hope a lot of folks across the nation — and not just here in the coalfields of southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia — will tune it.
It is doubtful that this high-quality production — which was filmed entirely in McDowell County last fall — will change many opinions. Those who hate coal will probably still hate it when the final credits roll for episode one Those who are supporters of coal will continue to be supporters of coal. But, with hope, everyone will stick around and tune in each week. Great ratings could mean a second season of filming of “Coal” in McDowell County.
If “Jersey Shore” can thrive in the reality television world, let’s hope something a little bit more real like “Coal” can as well.
The green movement will continue — as it should. If anything, awareness of coal mining could be increased across the nation thanks to the 10-part series kicking off tonight. Well-minded folks will continue to pursue green solutions to help our environment and our world. And they should.
However, the problem is when some — both environmentalists and politicians — take the green concept to the extreme. To say that coal, and coal mining, is basically destroying the planet — as the federal Environmental Protection Agency is basically saying — is taking it to the extreme. Attempting to do away with thousands of coal-mining jobs during one of the toughest of economic times in our nation’s history is taking it to the extreme.
Yes, coal mining is dangerous. Yes, it can be a deadly occupation. The entire nation witnessed the perils of the mining industry last year during the Upper Big Branch disaster.
There is no question that there are dangers and perils associated with the mining industry. Watch the first episode of “Coal” tonight, and you will see those dangers underground. You will, in essence, be going deep underground with the miners and the film crew as the black diamond known as coal is mined deep underground in McDowell County.
No one is under an illusion that coal mining is a safe industry. But to say that nuclear energy is safer than coal is a bit of a tough — and perhaps radioactive if you will — pill to swallow.
Charles Owens is the Daily Telegraph’s city editor. Contact him at cowens@bdtonline.com.
Columns
March 30, 2011
The nuclear crisis in Japan is another reason why we should appreciate coal
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