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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:
                                                   [ref]
  "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          Yes, the coal industry
  benefits of coal-based generation."               has done amazing
                                                    things to enhance
                                                    bullshit production.
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 the
                     study somewhere.

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


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