Home • Coal & Sustainability
The Future Isn’t So Black & White.
For years, sustainability has been painted as a battle between responsible environmental practices and human productivity—but the truth is, these ideas are not mutually exclusive. Over the last few decades, the coal industry has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into safety and environmental stewardship projects. It has pioneered advancements that enable responsible coal mining and technologies that seek to reduce environmental impacts beginning with mine planning through coal utilization.
Coal Plays a Role in Achieving Global Economic, Social, and Environmental Aspirations.
Coal Mining
Social responsibility starts at the human level and the coal mining industry continues to advance innovation as a means to promote a safe and healthy workplace for the men and women who mine the coal that fuels the world.
Coal Mining
Safety
The mining industry is incredibly vocal about its aim to achieve zero life-altering injuries. With an industry culture emphasizing safety, training, and empowerment, two-thirds of U.S. coal mines operate each year without a single lost work time injury. Investments in technology like proximity detection, atmospheric sensors, equipment automation, and big data help support this goal.
National Mining Association: Coal Mine Safety Fact Sheet
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH): Mine Safety and Health Technology Innovations Award
Mine Safety and Health Administration Technical Resources: Proximity Detection
Coal Mining
Health
Recent studies show advances in mining technologies enhance employee safety. Occupational health initiatives aim to improve the working environment. Operations also encourage and provide regular health screenings for miners and have led research regarding best preventative health practices while in the mines.
Moshood Onifad, Khadija Omar Said, Amtenge Penda Shivute: Safe mining operations through technological advancement (Vol. 175 Process Safety and Environmental Protection, Pages 251-258)
Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research: Effectiveness of Mine Health and Safety Interventions
Coal Mining
Benefits
Coal mining is a highly sophisticated industry, employing engineers, geologists, and technicians dedicated to safety, teamwork, and responsible operations. Many positions require a bachelor’s or master’s degree. The coal industry seeks to provide training and career development opportunities, along with competitive compensation and benefits, including paid leave and 401k programs.
The Environment
Regulations in the U.S. require the coal mining industry to adopt the well-known mitigation hierarchy. That is, mine plans are developed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate environmental impacts. Extending this approach, the industry restores mined land with the goal of meeting or exceeding pre-mining baseline conditions. Land reclamation is a top priority, repurposing space for commercial, residential, agriculture, forestry, wildlife habitat, and recreation.
United States EPA: Background about Compensatory Mitigation Requirements under CWA Section 404
Jeff Skousen & Carl Zipper, International Journal of Coal Science & Technology: Post Mining Policies and Practices in the Eastern USA Coal Region (October 3, 2014. Page 137.)
The Environment
Aspirations for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Reduction
To achieve global aspirational goals for GHG reduction, the investment in new technologies to reduce or mitigate emissions is massive and still requires research and development to render many of these technologies commercially viable, from both an economic and a technical standpoint. With this in mind, industry leaders are actively investing in the development, optimization, and deployment of technologies such as Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) and methane mitigation that will support economy-wide decarbonization over decades to come.
IEA: Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
U.S. Department of Energy: Carbon Management and Transformative Power Generation
U.S. Department of Energy: Coal FIRST Initiative
U.S. Department of Energy: Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy. REMEDY Program
The Environment
Resource Preservation
Protecting natural resources is an industry imperative. Beginning in the initial stages of project planning, mine operators conduct assessments to identify and evaluate sensitive species and critical habitats so that avoidance and mitigation measures can be incorporated into facility engineering and design. During mining, operators seek opportunities to reduce reliance on resources through best management practices such as wastewater recycling. Throughout a mine’s lifecycle and continuing for years after mining is complete, extensive monitoring is conducted to confirm that operators have achieved success criteria for site restoration.
EIA: Coal and the Environment
McKinsey and Company: Climate risk and decarbonization: What every mining CEO needs to know
The Environment
Renewable Energy’s Real Impact
Renewable power requires approximately ten times more land area than fossil fuels per unit of power produced. This surprising reality requires serious consideration as we develop future energy policies. To reach goals for renewable energy use, the IEA is estimating the supply of nickel, graphite, and lithium will need to increase by 1900%, 2500%, and 4200% respectively. This will require an enormous increase in mining and industrial activity, as well as large amounts of fossil fuels to extract, process, and transport these materials.
Samantha Gross, Brookings Institute: Renewables, Land Use, and Local Opposition in the United States (Page 3)
IEA: The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, 3.0 Mineral requirements for clean energy transitions
What About Renewable Energy?
We’re so glad you asked.
A transition to renewable energy will occur over decades, and even the most aggressive scenarios for a net-zero economy by 2050 acknowledge that coal will continue to be utilized. When used sustainably and equipped with emissions mitigation technologies like Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS), coal will complement other sources of energy while continuing to be used in metallurgical and industrial applications that promote sustainable infrastructure development.
