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COAL_DEATHS

                                             October 20, 2009

A figure that I would really like to know:

  How many deaths can be attributed to coal burning?

  Specifically, I want to know the deaths
  attributable to the air pollution generated by
  coal burning, though industry deaths (miners,
  etc) would also be of interest.


In the early 80s, I read that it was 2000 deaths
annually in the United States.

Since then, I've seen higher figures: 20,000, even 200,000.

A Democracy Now headline suggests that
the right value might be near 20,000:

  "A new report by the National Academy of Sciences estimates
  that burning fossil fuels costs the United States about
  $120 billion a year in hidden costs. The study estimated
  that nearly 20,000 people die prematurely each year from
  air pollutants emitted by power plants and vehicles. The
  study found that coal burning was the biggest single source
  of such external costs. Environmental groups said the
  actual hidden cost of burning fossil fuels is even higher,
  because the study did not include expenses related to
  global warming. The National Mining Association criticized
  the report for ignoring what it described as the hidden
  benefits of coal-based generation."

  [ref]

So the figure I read back in the early 80s
may have been low by a factor of ten?



            The coverage of the story in "The" Times, contradicts the
            above on a key point, stating that the "damages are caused
            almost equally by coal and oil":

              [ref]

                     So the question is how much of that 20,000
                     is from coal deaths is still open, for me...
                     but presumably there's an answer buried in
                     study somewhere.

                         (Maybe they didn't want to point a finger
                         at any one place, however much it's deserved?)


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