To the Editor:

Dr. David Trachtenbarg’s recent column (“What’s the Evidence?” June issue) did a great job of laying out the dangers of burning coal as an energy source. I would like to add to that a bit and mention the dangers to our health and environment that come with the handling and disposal of the waste produced, or coal ash. A typical coal plant produces more than 125,000 tons of ash each year, containing harmful compounds like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, lead, mercury, dioxins, and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons.

Coal ash is commonly handled by dumping it into open-air pits and ponds, more than 40 percent of which are unlined, resulting in environmental and public health hazards. An EPA assessment found that living near a coal ash storage pond (similar to what is used at the Edwards power plant just south of Peoria) is significantly more dangerous than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Hauling the coal ash is also dangerous, as we saw recently on Route 29 near Chillicothe when a truck was involved in a crash and for hours coal ash billowed over the roadway and blew into surrounding neighborhoods.

The current practice of generating power via burning coal inevitably introduces into our neighborhoods many dangerous substances. This needn’t be the case. Our nation used to be the nation of bold initiatives. It took us less than 10 years to get from the idea of a human on the moon, to the reality. Instead of being the nation that only maintains the dirty status quo, why can’t we be the nation that puts its energy, skills, and resources to developing sustainable, non-polluting power sources and drastically reducing or eliminating our continued dependence on yesterday’s damaging technologies?

Lisa Offutt