When wastewater from coal-fired plants is released into wider waterways, it can have serious consequences. Environmental toxins including mercury, arsenic, bromide and chloride can pollute drinking water and aquatic habitats, causing cancer and other ailments in humans and making it harder for wildlife to reproduce. That’s why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved on […]
British bank Barclays has announced the narrowing of its lending criteria for clients involved in coal-fired power generation and will cease to finance the surface mining method of oil sands exploration and production, but has still not committed to restricting lending for oil and gas as some of its competitors have. In its annual report […]
The locations of the 36 drowning deaths during the catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky last summer are closely correlated with large-scale coal strip mines, and a local non-profit is calling on the DOI to investigate further.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a National State of Disaster over the country’s worst-ever rolling blackouts. Many customers have been without power for as much as 12 hours per day to keep aging coal-fired power plants — the backbone of the country’s electricity network — running. Ramaphosa called the power crisis “an existential […]
The Australian government on Wednesday rejected a proposed open pit coal mine that would have been located less than 6.2 miles from the Great Barrier Reef.
Germany is in the midst of a debate about when it will stop using coal. While the current coalition government under Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to phase out the highly polluting fossil fuel by 2030, states in the country’s east want to maintain an earlier, less ambitious target of 2038. Now, a report […]
It would be cheaper to build new renewable energy capacity than it is to continue operating nearly every existing coal plant in the U.S., a new report from Energy Innovation finds. Of the country’s remaining 210 coal-fired power plants, more than 99% cost more to run than it would cost to replace them with new […]
When the temperature fell to minus 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit in Mohe — China’s northernmost city — on Sunday, it was the coldest the city had seen in modern times, according to the local weather bureau, reported The Washington Post. Known as “China’s North Pole,” Mohe is located just below Russian Siberia in northeastern Heilongjiang province […]
Britain is warming up its coal power stations once again this winter as a cold snap and light winds have settled into the region. To make sure there is enough power during the cold spell, National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) has asked power station operators Drax and EDF Energy to begin warming their respective […]