There's no such thing as clean coal

Between the wildfires, the hurricanes, and the droughts, one thing that this summer has made clear is not just that the climate is going to change, but that climate changeis already here.
We can still work to make the effects of climate change less severe. But more and more, the decisions being made about those interventions seem less grounded in what’s best for the American people and more focused on benefiting a handful of special interests—specifically, propping up a flagging coal industry that currently employs fewer people than the fast food chain Arby’s. But even if you ignored the impact of coal power plants on carbon emissions, burning coal for power still wouldn’t be great for the environment. And it still wouldn’t be great for humans.
That’s because in addition to carbon dioxide, coal powered plants emit a host of noxious pollutants. For example, each year, coal fired plants pump out 146,000 tons of PM2.5 pollution, a form of particulate matter roughly 40 times smaller than a grain of sand. They also pump out 197,000 tons of PM10 pollution, a form of particulate matter or dust that’s 10 microns big. That’s small enough to slip through your typical mesh filter. Because PM2.5 and PM10 pollution are so small, when we release these particles into the atmosphere they don’t just stay there; we breathe them in. The pollution lodges deep within our lungs, which haven’t exactly evolved to handle this kind of invasion. As a result, PM pollution causes health issues ranging from asthma to heart attacks. A study released earlier this year found that every year, 3.45 million people worldwide die an early death due to PM 2.5 pollution alone.
And particulate matter isn’t the only pollution that coal fired plants pump out. We all know that we’re supposed to limit how much salmon and tuna we eat because they contain mercury, an element that can cause a host of neurological and developmental issues ranging from a loss of peripheral vision, neuropathy (the pins and needles feeling), difficulty hearing, speaking, and walking, and muscle weakness. If you think these all sound less than ideal, you’re right.
Read More at:
https://www.popsci.com/coal-power-plants-cpp#page-2

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