Big Coal

I just started the book "big coal" by Jeff Goodell. After finishing the introduction it is clear that either he is full of shit, or this will be one of the best books I have ever read. Here are some quotes from him:

"In truth, the United States is more dependent on coal today than ever before. The average American consumes about twenty pounds of it a day."

"Since 1900, more than 100, 000 people have been killed in coal mine accidents, many forever entombed by collapsed roofs and tumbling pillars. Black lung, a disease common among miners from inhaling coal dust can be conservatively estimated to have killed another 200,000 workers. And burning coal is even more deadly. In just the bast twenty years, air pollution from coal plants has shortened the lives of more than a half million Americans."

"I spent three years researching and writing this book... During those three years, about 3 billion tons of coal went up in smoke in America. They created light and heat for much of the nation (not to mention the glow on my computer screen even now as I write). But during those years, the American Lung Association calculates, about 72,000 people in the United States died prematurely from the effects of coal-fired power plant pollution-more than from AIDS, murder, or drug overdose."

"Although America is a vastly richer country with many more options available to us, our per capita consumption of coal is three times higher than China's"

"half of the electricity in Los Angeles, for example, is imported from coal-fired power plants in Nevada and New Mexico"