Olivia's+coal+power+essay


 * Coal power, good or bad?**

Coal power is a bad power source to use, and should definitely not be used on Ngataruaton island. One, because of how it pollutes not only the air but the water and environment as well. Two, because it is non-renewable. And lastly, because of all the effects it has on water.

Coal power plants should not be used on Ngataruaton Island because of all the pollution it causes. For starters burning coal causes smog, global warming, air toxics and as much carbon dioxide as cutting down 161 million trees. It also causes acid rain that damages forests, lakes and buildings. Coal power also forms 500 tons of small airborne particles that can enter deep into your lungs and cause “chronic bronchitis, aggravated asthma and premature death as well as haze obstructing visibility.” (Union of concerned scientists, 2009) Which would make lots of people on Ngataruaton sick. So there is not much use in having coal power plants if they pollute not only the air, but the water and the environment as well.

Coal is also non-renewable because it takes millions of years to form, and we can’t make more in a short time. There is a lot of coal in the U.S, enough to last for 300 years. Also once all the coal is gone we cannot make another coal power plant and it takes millions of dollars to clean up a dead coal power plant as well. So I think we should use a much better power source that is renewable and will not cost heaps of money to clean up. Also we won’t have to use up heaps of coal either.

There are a lot of impacts that coal power plants have on water. Like that every year, one typical coal power plant (500-megawatt) draws about 2.2 billion gallons of water, from nearby rivers, lakes or oceans, this is all to create steam for turning its turbines. “This is enough water for a city of approximately 250,000 people.” (Union of concerned scientists, 2009) And when the water is drawn into the coal power plant it brings with it, 21 million fish eggs, fish larvae and juvenile fish may also come along with it as well, and that’s the average for a single species in one year. The EPA estimates that 1.5 million adult fish a year get trapped in the coal power plant structures and most of these fish are either injured or actually die in the process. Coal power plants also cause 170 pounds of mercury. This makes the fish unsafe to eat, so we would not be able to eat a lot of the fish inside and around Ngataruaton Island.

So overall there are lots of reasons why we should definitely not use coal power as a power source on our island, mostly because it pollutes the air, water and environment, and it is non-renewable as well. And there are definitely better power sources we can use instead.